By Sam Olley of RNZ

A North Island mother who sent her son to Christchurch to escape a youth gang, believes kids are being exploited by organised criminals.

The mother, who RNZ has agreed not to name, said her son, aged under 14, was bullied by Crips members and associates for a year, until he joined them, this year.

She said her son started shoplifting, breaking into businesses, and stealing cars, feeding proceeds back to the gang.

"It was only going to go two ways if he stayed here. And that was either he was going to end up dead from being in all these stolen cars and around these people. Or he was going to end up in juvie."

She was concerned children under 14 were being recruited by gangs, to commit crimes, because they were young enough to avoid charges.

Her son had been given rewards including drugs and alcohol, after stolen items had been distributed in the gang, she said.

"Which is insane. It's insane to think about it, but look at what's going on. It doesn't really sound insane when you look at the crime, 14-year-olds ram-raiding, absolutely giving no Fs about anyone."

Her comments come amid calls from National for tougher punishments for child offenders.

• Christopher Luxon gets tough on persistent youth offenders amid crime spree
• How do we stop the current wave of youth crime?

National Party police spokesperson Mark Mitchell. Photo / RNZ

Opposition police spokesman Mark Mitchell told RNZ earlier this week: "Today there are no consequences and that's why you see a tsunami of youth offending."

But national youth justice data shows to the end of 2021, offending dropped by more than 60 per cent in the past decade.

Police told the Government, in a briefing to new Police Minister Chris Hipkins, the recent spike in ram-raids in Tāmaki Makaurau, Waikato and Bay of Plenty, had involved children as young as 7.

It said the behaviour was "likely driven by a combination of young people exposed to a negative home environment, disengaged from school and their communities, the monetary gain from stealing certain goods, and the use of social media, particularly TikTok, to promote their criminal offending and gain notoriety".

But police said there was no current evidence the offending was being driven by youth gang affiliation or membership, although some youth offenders involved had gang associations.

The mother of the former Crips associate said her son started offending, after he was bullied on the way to school and on social media, for a year, by members and affiliates of the gang.

"He was being stepped out ... every time he caught the bus to school, they were taking his clothes off him, taking the shoes off him, taking his hats off him. Taking his phones off him."

Then he joined the gang: "We found him drunk, in a house where a Cripster had all these young people drinking and smoking."

The offending was primarily thefts, she said.

"Robberies - [led to] me being called by the police on a Sunday to pick him up from halfway between here in Auckland, because he's been in Auckland with a group of boys."

And the only way she was able to cut it out, was sending her son hundreds of kilometres away - to live with family in Christchurch, where he had not been involved in crime since, she said.

The mother had a stern message for people recruiting children to gangs.

"You are installing these behaviours into these young minds, and it's not okay, these kids think it's cool. And it's not cool. They just need to do some healing these adults, and they need to take a look in the mirror."

Parliamentary research published last month showed there were 264 Crips affiliates in prison in Aotearoa at the start of 2022.

It was the third-most imprisoned gang after the Mongrel Mob and Black Power.

The research said there were more than 2600 gang-affiliated inmates in total.

- RNZ