While courts grapple with AI and deepfakes, here's a question nobody's asking: why are youth courts issuing far fewer financial penalties, confiscations, and disqualifications than they were just a year ago?

In 2024, youth courts handed down 948 monetary or confiscation orders. That's down from 1,086 in 2023. a 13% drop in twelve months. Go back to 2022, when these orders peaked at 1,194, and the fall is even steeper: 21% fewer young people are facing fines, asset seizures, or driving bans than two years ago. (Source: Ministry of Justice, youth-court-orders)

This isn't a blip. It's the lowest number since 2013, when youth courts issued 933 such orders. For three decades, these penalties hovered between 900 and 1,300 annually. We're now at the bottom of that range.

So what changed? The data doesn't say, but the timing matters. These orders cover everything from fines for vandalism to confiscating stolen property to banning young drivers after dangerous behaviour. They're the court's way of hitting teenagers in the wallet or taking away their wheels.

One theory: courts are shifting away from punitive measures that research shows don't work on young offenders. Financial penalties sound tough, but if a 16-year-old can't pay, the fine just becomes a debt that follows them into adulthood. Confiscation and disqualification orders can work, but only if they're enforced consistently.

Another possibility: fewer young people are committing the types of crimes that trigger these penalties. Youth offending overall has been falling for years. But that doesn't fully explain why monetary orders are dropping faster than other penalties. Courts could be choosing different interventions: community work, supervision orders, or diversionary programmes that keep kids out of the system entirely.

Here's what we know for certain: the youth justice system is moving away from financial punishment. Whether that's deliberate policy, resource constraints, or judges using their discretion differently, the result is the same. Young offenders in 2024 are far less likely to face a fine, lose their car, or have property seized than they were in 2022.

Politicians love talking about youth crime. But this trend, happening quietly in courtrooms across New Zealand, tells a different story than the one you hear in Parliament. The justice system is changing how it deals with young offenders, and the numbers show it's been happening for three years straight.

Whether that's good or bad depends on what replaces these penalties. Are we doing something better? Or are we just doing less?