April 28, 2013
Police working with services to address offending
The police manager of Māori and Ethnic services says police are addressing bias statistics against Māori in the criminal justice system.
Youth advocacy group Just Speak analysed police statistics from 2000 to 2008 and found young Māori were more likely to be stopped by police than non-Māori, and far more likely to be prosecuted for relatively minor offences.
Wally Haumaha says the over-representation of Māori in the criminal justice system is a long-standing problem.
He says there are multiple reasons, including the low socio-economic status of many Māori, problems within family structures, and the relatively young age of the Māori population, and police are trying different approaches.
“In actual fact what we’ve seen over the last three years is that there are less prosecutions. We are seeing more of our people warned, cautioned or either being referred to an agency to ensure that the problems these kids may be experiencing are being dealt with,” he says.
Wally Haumaha says the police are trying to work with the Māori community groups and iwi to develop strategies which address offending and offenders.
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