Young men not doing their community work sentences are presenting judges with problems and sometimes prison is the only option left, says a Christchurch judge.
"It's about saying, 'What else can we do because we gave you a chance last time'?" said District Court Judge Michael Crosbie at a sentencing today, Christchurch Court News website reported.
"It has become a real problem."
There was huge discussion going on among judges who were finding that when they came to sentencing young men they were also having to resentence for old offences because community work had not been done.
"We are getting so many young men who are coming back to the court saying, `Don't send me to jail,' but wanting the court to ignore that they didn't do their sentence last time."
Judge Crosbie was commenting during the appearance of 22-year-old dairy worker, Hayden Doyle Rule, for sentence and resentence on nine charges.
That included three charges of perverting the course of justice by giving a false name - an offence with a maximum penalty of seven years' jail.
Rule told the judge that he had attacked another young man in a car when he was with his mates because of an issue with a woman friend's car financing being cancelled.
"I was trying to impress my mates, which I should never have done," he said.
Rule had admitted three charges of driving while his licence was suspended, and then three charges involving giving another person's name when he was stopped by the police. The other charges were assault, breach of bail, and breach of community work.
He had already been sentenced to community work on the driving charges dating back to 2007.
Defence counsel Bryan Green said the original offending had taken place two years ago and he now had more stability in his life. He urged that a sentence of home detention be imposed.
Judge Crosbie accepted that Rule was remorseful and had been honest. He noted that he had been in custody for three weeks during his remand. He said a home detention sentence was not a soft option and would "tie up" Rule longer than a term of imprisonment.
He sentenced him to eight months of home detention with an order to undertake treatment, counselling, or programmes as directed and to do 160 hours of community work.
There was a final warning that he would be jailed if he failed to comply.
