April 11, 2017
High hopes for Waitangi Tribunal report
The Drug Foundation says changing drug laws would be a good start to addressing the Waitangi Tribunal’s Tu Mai Te Rangi report on reoffending.
The tribunal has found the crown in breach of the Treaty of Waitangi for failing to put in place policies to tackle the rate at which Maori reoffend after leaving prison.
Executive director Ross Bell says as well as looking at reoffending, the government needs to find ways to turn off the tap of people entering prison in the first place.
About 40 percent of Maori in jail are there on drug-related charges.
Mr Bell says treating drugs as a health issue and investing heavily in drug treatment and rehabilitation would be a great place for the government to start to reduce the burden of the criminal justice system on Maori whanau and communities.
Justice reform group Just Speak also endorsed the report, with chair Julia Whaipooti saying the quadrupling of the prison population over the past 25 years despite a decline in recorded crime rates was significantly driven by the mass imprisonment of Maori.
She says addressing the tribunal’s findings makes more sense than building more prisons.
Copyright © 2017, UMA Broadcasting Ltd: www.waateanews.com