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A leading prison reform campaigner says culturally responsive initiatives such as Rangatahi Youth Courts and Māori Focus Units fail to address the disparity between Māori and non-Māori in the criminal justice system.
Kim Workman from Rethinking Crime and Punishment told a Human Rights Commission diversity forum in Wellington that New Zealand is ignoring the problem, despite repeated calls from a United Nations committee to address issues of ethnic over-representation in the system.
He says the UN Committee for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination called for research on possible racial bias in arrests, prosecutions and sentences, which was never done.
He believes agencies won’t invest in the research, because they know what they are likely to find.
Mr Workman says the "get tough movement" which is dominating New Zealand’s approach to crime is characterised by a refusal to assess whether its prescriptions actually work.
He recommended that new and existing legislation be subject to a Racial Impact Statement, which are being used in the United States.
Copyright © 2013, UMA Broadcasting Ltd
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