Hon Matt Robson
Minister of Corrections
May 2001
Reducing the imprisonment of Maori
- Maori are over-represented in the criminal justice system and the collective efforts of justice sector agencies to assist Maori to reduce this disparity have not changed the situation. In his report on preventing Maori crime Peter Doone notes:65
Criminal Justice data shows that Maori are over-represented at every stage of the Criminal Justice process. In 1998 they were 3.3 times more Iikefy to be apprehended for a criminal offence than non-Maori. They were more Iikefy to be prosecuted, more Iikefy to be convicted, and more Iikefy to be sentenced to imprisonment. The result was that Maori made up 14 percent of the general population and 51 percent of the prison population. These gaps are widening, not narrowing.
- According to the Australian Pathways to prevention, serious offending comes about as a result of personal histories and cultural histories - the history of the individual and of the individual's culture. Like colonised minorities in other countries, some Maori have become socially, culturally, and economically marginalised in New Zealand, resulting in a higher incidence of social difficulties, including offending. Similar social difficulties are found among non-Maori with equivalent personal and social histories. The general solution to this situation is to assist Maori to develop their social, cultural and economic resources and to use tikanga Maori and whakapapa as positive forces for the rehabilitation of Maori offenders.
- Because of the higher rate of unmet needs for social support services and therefore a higher rate of offending among Maori, there are correspondingly high levels of victimisation in Maori families and Maori communities, Serious male offenders of all ethnicities tend to victimise their immediate family first, and then those who live close to them. The four options proposed in this report to reduce Maori offending will bring about reductions in domestic violence and crime in Maori communities.
- Among those imprisoned, Maori are further over-represented among those who are at risk of re-offending more frequently and more seriously, as Figure 14 shows. In comparison with their numbers in prison, Maori are under-represented among those whose risk score indicates that they are not likely to be re-imprisoned, and significantly over-represented among those whose risk score indicates that they will probably be re-imprisoned for further serious offences.
Figure 14: Ethnic composition of inmate groups with different risk scores
Source: Wanganui Computer records for 1993
- Providing for the unmet needs of Maori is a matter of urgency. The general framework introduced here for the reduction of all imprisonments - prevention, alternative sentencing, and rehabilitation should be the basis of efforts to reduce Maori imprisonment. However, Department of Corrections' policy includes the intention to ensure that the development and evaluation of programmes for Maori should draw from a knowledge pool that includes Western theories and practices, and tikanga Maori theories and practices. Tikanga-based approaches can meet the specific cultural needs of Maori offenders, and thereby assist in the construction of positive family relationships, person accountability, and responsible behaviour.
- Rehabilitation approaches are likely to produce results more quickly than prevention approaches, and in particular option 6 (Day Reporting Centres to reduce the flow of young Maori into recidivist adult offending) and option 8 (drug and alcohol programmes) which are expected both to reduce recidivism and to improve family safety.
- Programme development and delivery, therefore, also require expert understanding of tikanga, whakapapa, and te reo, and contact with appropriate whanau, and marae - in addition to understanding Western treatment modalities that bring about prevention and rehabilitation.
- There needs to be a targeting mechanism in place that delivers a share of theresources available for reducing imprisonment that is commensurate with the degree
- There needs to be a targeting meohanism in plaoe that delivers a share of the resouroes available for reduoin9 imprisonment that is oommensurate with the degree of over-representation of Maori in prisons - whioh is 3,5 times, While all of the options introduced in this report are expected to reduce Maori imprisonment to the same extent that they reduce non-Maori imprisonment, that will not by itself reduce the over-representation of Maori among the imprisoned. In order to reduce the over-representation of Maori among the imprisoned, prevention and rehabilitation policy must be targeted so as to have a greater impact on Maori.
- The high representation of Maori in high-risk groups provides a way of targeting rehabilitative services at Maori offenders. If high-risk cases are considered for inclusion in rehabilitative programmes first, up to 70 percent of resources will flow to Maori offenders which will not only reduce imprisonment of Maori but also over-representation.
- The effectiveness of efforts to reduce imprisonment of Maori - through preventive and rehabilitative interventions - will depend on the availability of two key commodities:
- Research-proven programmes combining aspects of tikanga Maori and standard 'criminogenic' responses into programmes that work, and
- Maori programme developers and deliverers - including whanau, hapu, and iwi, which may have key roles in programme delivery.
- Currently in the adult justice sector there are shortages of both of these commodities. While there are a number of Maori programmes introduced or in the trial stage, there is insufficient outcome data for policy makers and service purchasers to make informed decisions about 'what works best' for which Maori offenders, and even whether programmes that blend Western and Maori views of the solutions to offending behaviour work at all. Similarly there are no places to go for Maori programme providers to 'up-skill' with the demanding combination of Western psychology and tikanga Maori that their important mission demands of them.
- Getting the very best results from the resources available for reducing Maori imprisonment will involve making progress with these two issues:
- Closing the 'knowledge gap' about what particular combination of psychology andtikanga works best for Maori offenders, and
- Closing the 'training and supply of Maori programme presenters' gap.
OPTIONS 9 AND 10: Reducing the imprisonment of Maori
- Options 9 and 10 deal with the two outstanding matters in point 190 above. Option 9 involves a proposal for thorough outcome evaluations of standard Integrated Offender Management rehabilitative interventions and the major kinds of tikanga-based and hybrid programmes. The Department of Corrections will include this proposal in discussions for the for training and development of a workforce skilled in the development and delivery of rehabilitation programmes for Maori.
Services for Pacific peoples offenders
- Figure 14 provides the key information on imprisonment of Pacific peoples:
- Pacific peoples are slightly over-represented among inmates in comparison with their numbers in the New Zealand population (1.4 times) and significantly less over-represented than Maori.
- Among inmates, their risk scores are mostly low, indicating that their probability of serious re-offending is lower.
- As a result, fewer Pacific peoples will be selected under current rehabilitation policy, which directs the limited resources available for rehabilitation to the highest risk scores.
- Consequently, the Department of Corrections intends to consider options for the rehabilitation of Pacific peoples inmates during the 2001/02 year, including strategies to optimise the effectiveness of services provided to Pacific peoples and targeting mechanisms that ensure appropriate delivery of available resources.
Footnotes:
- 65
- Doone 2000
