While the government unveils its infrastructure plan and court dramas dominate headlines, a quieter shift in New Zealand's justice system has gone almost unnoticed: we've nearly stopped fining young offenders.

In 2024, Youth Courts issued just 948 monetary penalties — confiscations, fines, and disqualifications combined. That's down from 1,194 in 2022, and the lowest figure since records began in 1992. (Source: Ministry of Justice, youth-court-orders)

This isn't about youth crime falling — other data shows the picture is more complicated. This is about courts changing how they respond when young people do offend.

The peak came in 2012, when courts issued 1,542 monetary orders. Since then, the number has dropped 39%. The decline accelerated after 2022, falling 21% in just two years.

Why does this matter? Because how we punish young offenders shapes whether they reoffend. Monetary penalties — especially for teenagers from low-income families — often go unpaid, accumulating debt that follows them into adulthood. Courts appear to be moving away from this approach.

The shift suggests judges are choosing alternative responses: community work, mentoring programmes, family group conferences. These don't show up in the monetary penalty data, but they're what research says actually works for young offenders.

There's another story in the numbers. The 40% drop since 2020 has happened during a period when youth crime — particularly retail crime and vehicle theft — has dominated political debate. The public conversation says we're being too soft. The court data says we've been steadily reducing one type of penalty for years.

This isn't necessarily good or bad. It's a fundamental change in how the youth justice system operates, happening largely outside public view while politicians argue about being "tough on crime."

What we don't know from this data: Are courts issuing fewer orders because fewer young people are appearing before them? Or because judges are deliberately choosing non-monetary responses? The numbers don't tell us. But they do tell us this: if you're a young person in front of a Youth Court today, you're far less likely to walk out with a fine than at any point in the last 32 years.

The question isn't whether this is the right approach. The question is whether anyone making youth justice policy has noticed it's happening.