So he isn t interested in just throwing the book at them. One of the devices that Judge Bidois and I created is what we call a remand contract. This is a deal which the young offender signs up to with the court. The offender might get a job and keep it for three months, or go down to limited service volunteers at Burnham military camp for six weeks, pay reparation or do voluntary community work.

The deal with the court will be that the punishment for the offence will be tailored to take into account how much improvement the offender can show. This is a very good technique to encourage them to make changes in their life because there is a consequence, maybe jail, if they don t. Not surprisingly, the judge is keen on programmes like Start Taranaki, the Big Brothers Big Sisters Taranaki mentoring programme of which he is a trustee and the proposal to give boy racers space at Ferndene.

I make the point that it s the senior generation which imports the powerful cars, which runs the finance companies that make them affordable on really poor security, that creates the films that make heroes out of drag racers and then condemns the young men for their driving habits. Seldom does he see a boy racer who is also on a drink-drive charge. But he agrees boy racers are a pain in the neck. It s not his idea of fun at all.

But they are, he says, the same type of young men who, a couple of generations, ago, flew Spitfires in the Battle of Britain. They feel immortal and reckless. They are also thoughtless, but they love their cars and spend thousands of dollars to create a nuisance on public streets and need to be dealt with. But society has a responsibility to provide a place for them to have an outlet for what otherwise is a legitimate hobby, rather than simply condemn them and alienate them.