There has been much debate over whether or not boot camps actually work for serious young offenders.

National’s proposal to reintroduce military-style activity camps has broadly found favour with the public, but not so much with academics or experts in the justice sector.

Because we’ve tried them before... Former Prime Minister John Key introduced the Fresh Start programme for young offenders in 2010 - a review found 83 percent of young people who completed them went on to re-offend in the first year.

Chris Polaschek not only worked in youth justice for 30 years, but he was also in charge of John Key’s boot camps back in 2010 - responsible for implementing the Fresh Start programme as project manager for the Military Activity Camp programme.

Polaschek told Tova O'Brien that the time young offenders would spend inside the nine-week program was life-changing - for the better.

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