ACT leader David Seymour is standing by his idea of fitting ankle bracelets on young offenders in response to the spike in ram-raids and smash-and-grabs.
Seymour said on Tuesday his party wanted to see more consequences for young people who commit serious offences, including ram-raids.
One idea being touted by ACT is to fit youth offenders as young as 11 who commit serious offences with ankle bracelets that monitor their movements.
Seymour told AM Early on Thursday the suite of programmes the Government unveiled on Tuesday was an extension of things that were already in place.
He can't see how it will fix New Zealand's youth crime problem and wants kids to face consequences for their actions.
"What was missing was any kind of consequence, and some people will say, well having an 11-year-old wear an ankle bracelet, that's a bit jarring, that's a bit harsh, but actually, the same people will probably tell you an 11-year-old is not capable of stealing a car and driving it through somebody's shop window and their business they built up over a long period of time," he told AM Early host Bernadine Oliver-Kerby.
Seymour said if kids don't learn ramifications from an early age, they'll get a shock when they go to adult prison.
"There have to be consequences for actions because yes, these kids may be wayward and they may be victims themselves in some senses, but they're also capable of making a decision, and they need to see consequences for the decision they made," he said.
"If you don't, you keep them in cotton wool through youth justice till they hit adult prison and all of a sudden, they're locked up in jail at 18 years old and someone asked, well, why wasn't there a series of escalating consequences to warn them of this before?"
There has been mixed reaction to ACT's ankle bracelet idea, with National refusing to support it, New Zealand rugby league great Sir Graham Lowe criticising it, while Waikato retailer Ash Parmar came out in favour of it because he feels parents and police aren't doing enough.
When questioned about the criticism, Seymour asked, "why not?"
"Do we not believe these kids are capable of making decisions, that they're capable of choosing what to do next? If we believe they are, then I think that showing them there's a consequence for bad behaviour is a useful thing," he told AM Early.
"It also has the practical advantage because you can trace them, you know if they've broken their curfew, you know if they've gone to school, and you know if they were near the site of any subsequent ram-raids in the area.
"So it has a practical overlay, but also, yes, it does show that there is a consequence for bad actions, something that the Government's announcement totally lacked."
Police Minister Chris Hipkins revealed in Parliament last month there had been 129 ram-raids since May, and "almost all of them" had been committed by people under 18.
When questioned by ACT about the spike in ram-raids, Hipkins told the House 38 offenders had been identified or arrested with "almost all of these people are under 18 years old, and their median age was 15".
In the last five years, ram-raids and smash-and-grab robberies have increased dramatically with a 400 percent increase - with 76 percent of those being caught under the age of 18, RNZ reported last month.
Watch the full interview with David Seymour above.
