6. Question No. 6—JusticeVANUSHI WALTERS (Labour—Upper Harbour) to the Minister of JusticeQuestion No. 6—Justice6. VANUSHI WALTERS (Labour—Upper Harbour) to the Minister of Justice: What steps is the Government taking to crack down on youth offending and gang offending?Hon KIRITAPU ALLAN (Minister of Justice): Yesterday the Government announced steps to crack down on recent increases in criminal offending to break the cycle of crime and to make sure offenders are held to account. We will introduce a new aggravating factor for posting offending behaviour online—to apply to adults and young people—and provide the courts with an additional consideration when sentencing. It will send a strong signal that this behaviour is unacceptable. We'll also introduce an aggravating factor for commissioning or rewarding children and young people who offend. As the Prime Minister said yesterday these actions are cowardly they are exploitative and harmful to the children involved so the consequences must be serious.Vanushi Walters: Why are these steps needed?Hon KIRITAPU ALLAN: These steps are needed because this is about prevention protection and accountability. These changes will make offenders more accountable back our police with greater powers and work to break the cycle of offending. We know that there is an organised criminal element to much of the recent offending so in addition to the offending done for the notoriety on social media these new aggravating factors give police the tools in the tool box to crack down. This isn't about locking our children and perpetuating the cycle of crime; it's about making sure that young offenders know that their actions have consequences. Our interventions that we have introduced have been working. The early intervention programme targeting recidivist child offenders has been highly successful alongside the Kotahi te Whakaaro programme. We'll continue the work that's already under way to keep young people away from crime in the first place.Vanushi Walters: What other announcements has the Government made recently?Hon KIRITAPU ALLAN: Yesterday the Government also announced that we are introducing greater accountability to those most impacted by crime. For offending by children and young people—from the age of 10—the Family Court will be given the ability to require offenders to undertake community activities including for example cleaning graffiti picking up rubbish and those types of measures. The Family Court will also be able to require that an offender attend an educational recreational or activity programme. This is vital to get young offenders re-engaged and back on track. It builds on the work we're doing to improve school attendance as well—back on track. Finally we're backing the police by boosting the prosecution service with an additional $26 million to help clear the case backlog in the District Court.Vanushi Walters: How will the new funding help reduce the case backlog in the District Court?Hon KIRITAPU ALLAN: The funding announced yesterday will allow police to add up to 78 fulltime-equivalent staff to prepare their in-court work against those who've committed serious crimes. The funding is designed to ensure better use of resources and court time to resolve cases earlier and with fewer court appearances. This funding works alongside a range of other initiatives already under way to address delays in the court including increasing the number of judges in the Court of Appeal High Court and District Court—that's work through to 2025—opening the Newmarket Court Hearing Centre in March 2023 to provide additional capacity for the Manukau District Court; a joint work programme with Te Whatu Ora the Ministry of Health and Corrections to address issues around court-ordered forensic reports; establishing the Family Court Associates position; and the use of Kaiārahi—Family Court Navigators—and resources and information for care of children to provide quality accessible information so that participants understand their options both in and out of court to resolve care of children matters.