Introduction

L. John Horwood, Senior Research Fellow at the Christchurch School of Medicine.

Introduction

I have been asked to examine the issue of ethnic bias in access to Home Detention (HD) and specifically whether Maori are at a disadvantage compared to NZ Europeans in terms of access to Home Detention at either the sentencing and/or parole decision-making stages of the judicial process.

The data set provided comprises information on a sample of approximately 7,600 offenders who were eligible for Home Detention over a 12 month period. The specific information provided for each offender includes measures of: the offender’s personal characteristics (age, gender, ethnicity); the severity and nature of the most recent offence; sentence length; the estimated probability of reoffending; the individual’s offending and conviction history; and related factors. The two key outcomes are: (1) Whether the offender had been granted leave to apply for HD by the sentencing judge; and (2) Whether the offender had been granted approval for HD by the Parole Board.