88. Amendments to the bail provisions under the CYPF Act that have lowered the threshold for arrest for bail breaches by a young person may have had some impact on custodial remand numbers, particularly in cases where there is a lack of available care placements or bail options. There continues to be ongoing concern about the last resort measure of detaining a young person on remand into police custody. A recent case where a 16 year old girl was detained for four days in a police cell following a bail breach due to a lack of available CYF beds prompted calls from the judiciary for the practice to stop.46 In 2012 the Independent Police Conduct Authority, the Human Rights Commission and the Children’s Commissioner held a Joint Thematic Review (JTR) of young people in police custody as part of their National Preventative Mechanism functions under the Optional Protocol to the Convention Against Torture. In the year preceding the report 213 young people were detained in police cells for an average of 1.9 days and indications at that time were that figures were trending upwards. The resulting JTR report issued 24 recommendations designed to improve conditions of detention and treatment of young people, police training and reporting practices and review options for transport arrangements.47 Child witnesses/child victims 89. The Ministry of Justice has reviewed the provisions of the Evidence Act with a view to strengthening the availability of protective measures for child witnesses in criminal trials and introduced National Guidelines in order to enable greater consistency of practice48. This has led to the introduction of the Evidence Amendment Bill that seeks to introduce, among other things, a presumptive right for child witnesses aged under 18 to use alternative modes of evidence in criminal trials and an automatic right to have a support person present.49 Recommendations 90. The Committee may wish to consider including the following question in its List of Issues for the New Zealand Government:  What steps is the Government taking, or intends to take, to raise the upper age of the Children, Young Persons and their Families Act in order to bring the youth justice and child protection systems into conformity with the CRC?  What progress has the Government made in implementing the recommendations of the Joint Thematic Review of Young Persons in Police Detention? 46 http://m.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11519882 http://www.ipca.govt.nz/site/media/2012/2012-october-23-joint-thematic-review.aspx 48 http://www.justice.govt.nz/policy/justice-system-improvements/child-witnesses-in-the-criminal-courts 49 http://www.parliament.nz/en-nz/pb/legislation/bills/00DBHOH_BILL63043_1/evidence-amendment-bill 47 24