Maori representation in Corrections

The impact of the current status of Māori in the overall criminal justice sector shows from a Corrections perspective that:

• Māori tend to offend at younger ages, and therefore have their first conviction and custodial sentence at a young age
• Māori are over-represented in younger age groups, particularly among 17-19 year olds
• Māori women are particularly over-represented in comparison to other ethnicities
• 22 per cent of Māori prisoners are gang affiliated compared to 5 per cent of Europeans
• literacy and numeracy skills of Māori offenders are low in comparison to other ethnicities
• health problems are higher for Māori prisoners in comparison to other ethnicities
• the rate of imprisonment for Māori is 5-8 times higher than for other ethnicities
• Māori have a higher Risk of Reconviction and Re-imprisonment (ROC*ROI) score compared with other ethnicities
• Corrections’ new entrants and recidivism data confirm that Māori over-representation is a reflection of large numbers of ‘new’ Māori offenders entering the system
• more Māori (68 per cent) are imprisoned on sentences less than 12 months in comparison to Europeans (63 per cent)
• once in the system, Māori offenders tend to ‘cycle’ around (relapse – reconvicted – re-sentenced) more quickly and frequently than Europeans.

The ability to ‘slice the cake’ into useful statistics and facts may underestimate the complexity of issues at the heart of over-representation of Māori within Corrections.

For example doing better for Māori offenders will inevitably mean addressing complex gang issues given the high number of Māori offenders with gang affiliations in comparison to other ethnicities.

We also know that Māori and Pacific peoples are a youthful population meaning that we should not expect the over-representation of Māori and Pacific youth within Corrections to diminish in the short term.

We are also seeing more youth offenders identifying with multiple ethnicities. This will require careful consideration of whether current programmes and services will work just as effectively with this group as we move forward.

Although women represent a small proportion of the overall offender population, the representation of Māori women within Corrections is of particular concern (59.5 per cent of the female offender population).

A recent review of New Zealand literature on women’s offending highlights the complexity of issues for women offenders and a need to address their offending behaviours differently from the offending behaviours of male offenders.

“The scale of Māori offending and imprisonment not only distorts the very nature of New Zealand communities, particularly Māori communities, but also has the effect of undermining the integrity of Māori culture.” - Waitangi Tribunal