Despite Europeans making up 68 per cent of the population, only 33 per cent of those in prison are Europeans. That compares with 49 per cent Maori and 11.3 per cent Pacific - yet they make up only 15 per cent and 7 per cent respectively of the overall population.
If I put that aside and actually engage with the 'accusation' Maori and Pacific both have young populations and so you could expect some slight over-representation, which is what we see with Pacific. But not gross over-representation, which is what we see with Maori. Why isn't some thought given to that difference. In the report's terms, why does the justice system let down Maori in a way that it isn't letting down Pacific people?
And as always, when these sorts of reports make it into mainstream media and are widely broadcast on the TV, I worry about the message they send to subjects of them. It'd be like me telling my kids that whenever they have a problem, it's not their fault. They know however I am far more objective that that. Loving them doesn't mean I can't see their weaknesses. But it does mean that I have to help them overcome those weaknesses in anyway I can.
6 comments:
An affirmative quota system is needed to get more Europeans into jail.
The State shouldn’t divide people. European this Pacific that. The State setting groups of people against each other.
Tell the State to go get stuffed don’t fall into their trap.
While we are at it,there is a serious gender imbalance, far too few women in prison.
Gender is just a social construct right?
I was at a talk given by Todd McClay yesterday. During it he mentioned that patched gang members now make up 30% of the male prison population. Subtract that from the general Maori prison population and we are getting back to a more reasonable representation of Maori in prison.
JC
Because the media are so fearless and balanced , expect a new headline any day.
“Asians are 9.6%* of the population but only 2.7% of the prison population-Enquiry needed”
*2006 figure, likely to be greater now.
*** Despite Europeans making up 68 per cent of the population, only 33 per cent of those in prison are Europeans. That compares with 49 per cent Maori and 11.3 per cent Pacific - yet they make up only 15 per cent and 7 per cent respectively of the overall population.***
Curious that they omit Asians from their analysis? Perhaps that is because they might find that East Asians in particular have lower crime rates than Europeans in NZ, the UK & US.
Does this mean that Europeans face structural discrimination?
Of course you could also point out that women, despite being roughly 50% of the population are only a small fraction of the prison population.
Again, does this show there is structural discrimination against men?
What Joris de Bres fails to acknowledge is that there are bio-cultural reasons for disparities in crime (not to mention education and health outcomes). For example, in terms of crime groups differ in testosterone levels, androgen receptors (which moderate testosterone) & MAO-A variants that are linked to aggressive behaviour.
People seem to have no problem understanding that biologically diverse populations can differ in sporting performance (eg top sprinters tend to be of West African ancestry, and polynesians dominate contact sports requiring explosive speed and power). There is no reason to anticipate groups that were living in different environments and cultures for thousands of years would have an identical distribution of traits.
Steve Hsu, who is involved with Beijing Genomics Institute's cognitive genomics project, has a good post on this:
"Finally, it is important to note that group differences are statistical in nature and do not imply anything definitive about a particular individual. Rather than rely on the scientifically unsupported claim that we are all equal, it would be better to emphasize that we all have inalienable human rights regardless of our abilities or genetic makeup."
http://infoproc.blogspot.co.nz/2007/01/metric-on-space-of-genomes-and.html
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