I wouldn't agree with Kim Workman's philosophical approach to crime and related matters but his statistical stuff is sound. Yesterday he delivered a submission to the Law and Order select committee containing the
following:
“In the last ten years,
the sentenced prisoner population increased by 33.7%, while
the remand population increased by 116%.” Said Mr Workman,
“Around 56 percent of those remanded in custody did not
go on to serve a custodial sentence. We remand offenders in
custody at a rate higher than other comparable countries,
with the exception of the United States.
“Maori
defendants are nearly twice as likely as their European
counterparts to be remanded in custody. The unanswered
question is whether this discrepancy occurs because of
differential offending patterns by Maori, a lack of cultural
responsiveness, or the negative impact of laws, structures,
processes and decision making criteria. There has been no
in-depth research on this issue since 1973, and it is a
matter of urgency.”
Following the link to his full submission was unsuccessful but it did take me to Rethinking's website. My first visit. It's a well designed site. Just a quick
excerpt which describes Maori offending in a way I haven't seen before;
At every stage in the criminal justice process, the outcomes for Māori
are generally more severe than they are for Pakeha. Māori are less
likely to receive diversion or cautions and are more likely to be
sentenced to prison. Although New Zealand's imprisonment rate is 199
people per 100,000, the rate for Māori is closer to 700 per 100,000.
Māori make up over 50% of New Zealand's prison population and over 60%
of its female prison population.
11 comments:
Here's where you get the multiplier effect comes in with that 20% education failure comes in..
By coincidence I was talking to a contractor with 100% Maori workforce this morning.. he told me that 90% of them can't read, most have difficulty signing their names (laboriously printing a capital and then just doing a squiggle for the rest), and 90% have their wages deducted for court orders.
Here's another stat for you from me.. back in the 90s I was running a similar gang of 26 and only one had a drivers licence. Now these guys all drove and got caught and fined for road offences and no licence, but all had to continue driving to get to work or whatever so they had multiple offences and fines.
The reality for these guys is they are under massive financial stress all the time and its actually more economic to be on the dole.
Now imagine how they present in court.. illiterate, barely understandable accent and language, multiple offences, sullen, poor dress and worst of all.. seemingly no sense that they had done anything wrong.. eventually the court loses patience and sends them away to put them out of circulation or to shake them up.
It all comes back to illiteracy, inability to reason, drugs, financial stress and not having the confidence to get a driving licence because they cant read.. the results are inevitable.
JC
Forget the implied racism in Workman's comments, for those comments to have relevance you would need to compare crimes committed, and the previous criminal history of the offenders.There may be an increase in the numbers remanded in custody because of poor court productivity. There has also be a large increase in serious crimes committed by criminals released on bail.
As for JC s comment above on Maori illiteracy, perhaps this reflects the accent on Kohanga, and subsequent State education pre-occupation with maori language its insistence on Maori language instead of ABC and English
Yet in my experience JC illiterates aren't necessarily 'thick'. Sometimes quite the opposite. Though I suppose my experience lies in either poeple who want to be helped or who are interested in art.
It's also more economic to be on the dole because child support is means-tested. The more they earn the more they pay. And they often have multiple kids.
"Yet in my experience JC illiterates aren't necessarily 'thick'. Sometimes quite the opposite."
True. But the point is that illiteracy aggregates such people into low skilled, dead end and/or physically exhausting work where burnout occurs at age 30 or thereabouts.
Escape from such a trap is very hard and requires development of the mind with very little support.
You know what works?.. pushing them to get a driving license.. with computers its possible to overcome illiteracy.
JC
So are you involved in any initiative to this end JC?
Baxter - Kohanga is relatively new, so your 30 year old workmen are unlikely to have had a benefit of this type of education.
I remember a stat about the most successful small business owners in the world being Maori women. This would seem to suggest perhaps Maori aren't the illiterate savages.
"with computers it is possible to overcome illiteracy". Or you could use old fashioned methods, but we don't know whether it relates to remand population until the study has been done.
I disagree with the assertion that it is "more economic to be on the dole because child support is means-tested. The more they earn the more they pay. And they often have multiple kids." Isn't there a graduated rate of support so that if you have 6 kids you can earn more? (I'm too lazy to check).
I can think of successful business people with problems with reading and writing who still make lots more money than I do, so obviously they found ways around it.
I have been. I was a trustee for this outfit:
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/janine-ogier/news/article.cfm?a_id=33&objectid=3520936
JC
Anon said,
"I disagree with the assertion that it is "more economic to be on the dole because child support is means-tested. The more they earn the more they pay. And they often have multiple kids." Isn't there a graduated rate of support so that if you have 6 kids you can earn more? (I'm too lazy to check)."
Stop being lazy and check.
On Sunday evening on TV1, Country Calendar was about a Maori family (I think living in the Eastern Bay of Plenty) running a logging contracting business in the Gisborne area. It was one of the most inspirational programmes I have ever seen on television.
In my community, the rapid growth of which, since 1950, was mainly around transient families, a veteran of the Maori Battalion ran a similar highly successful family transport business. He had been decorated with the Military Medal for outstanding bravery under enemy fire at Monte Casino, a fact which only emerged publicly in the late 1990's.
However WW11 resulted in the massive loss of Maori men who would have become the leaders of the post-war generation. This loss coincided with the shift from the Marae-based community values system within Maoridom to the unsupervised urban-based collection of young Maori. In many instances gangs became their new families.
I had quite a lot to do with young Maori through school camps and with sports coaching. What impressed me was their willingness to have a go at things when encouraged to do so, their effervescent good humour, their dexterity, and their general excellence at artwork equal to their singing reputation. One very shy young man from those experiences came back to our large community as a Maths teacher in one of our Secondary Schools.
I am hopeful, even confident, that Charter Schools may be help to break the cycle of illiteracy to which JC refers.
It was a great programme David. And I heartily endorse your optimism about charter schools. Am listening to John Tamihere and Willie Jackson this afternoon both doing the same. They see real possibilities for, as you say, breaking the cycle of illiteracy.
ANON........First Kohanga Reo opened 1982 (30 years ago. Don't time fly.
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