Explaining Recent Innovations in New Zealand's Criminal Justice System: Empowering Maori or Biculturalising the State?

Abstract

T hiS paper provides an overview of the relationship between Maori and the criminal justice system in New Zealand since Moana jackson published "Maori and the Criminal justice System: He Whaipaanga Hou" in 1988. jackson argued that the cultural insensitivity and blas inherent in the criminal justice system, lies at the heart of the Maori over-representation problem. The focus of my paper is on the incorporation of Maori justice practices and philosophies within the family group conferencing forurn established in 1989. The discussion of this initiative will take place within the framework of an evaluation of 'bi-culturalism' and the struggle by Maori to achieveautonomy in the realm of justice.Colonization is always lethal to the colonized, Oliver (1995: 19) New Zealand, like other Settler..societies such as Canada and Australia, continues to experience a high level of tension between sections of its majority (Pakeha/European) and indigenous (Maori) populations. The current ethnic tensions in N ew Zealand are in part, attributable to the perceived necessity for 'nation..destroying' in colonial and neo..colonial processes of nation.. building. This destructive element of the New Zealand neo..colonial process is reflected not just in current ethnic unrest, signified by continuing indigenous protests and disputes over land, but in both the poor socio ..economic status of the indigenous population 1 (jackson, 1995;Walker, 1990) and their often negative relationship with the irnposed criminal justice ordering that currently predominates' (jackson, 1988).The unsettled nature of ethnic relations in neo..colonial New Zealand can be attributed to a number of factors, including the post ..Second World War heteroge.. neous immigration patterns; both internal (the urban..drift of a once rural ..based indigenous population

Maori and Criminal Offending: A Critical Appraisal

“…Consistent with the ideology of biculturalism becoming the new orthodoxy in New Zealand (see Poata-Smith, 1997;Rata, 2003;Webster 1998) there was a shift toward theorising the overrepresentation of Maori in the criminal justice sector as being the result of historical and systemic cultural domination (see Maxwell & Morris, 1999;McFarlane-Nathan, 1999;Pratt, 1999;Tauri, 1999). In large part this was the legacy of Moana Jackson's (1987Jackson's ( , 1988 seminal work on the topic.…”

“…Tauri describes the conclusion Jackson drew from his summary of the situation 'Therefore, for Maori to achieve justice they must have their own system, one that is not only based on tikanga Maori (values and practices) but also one that Maori themselves control ' (1999, p. 157). Although Tauri (1999) goes on to say that the official reaction to Jackson's report was largely dismissive, he also observes that on the basis of Jackson's work the government indicated that they were open to compromise.…”

From a Search for Rangatiratanga to a Struggle for Survival - Criminal Justice, the State and Māori, 1985 to 2015. The 2015 JD Stout Lecture

“…These types of community crime prevention programmes incorporated features of Māori responses to social harm, but became state-controlled and designed initiatives with "added" Māori cultural elements to existing intervention logic. 41 Even Puao te Ata Tu failed to escape. As recommended by Puao te Ata Tu, and agreed to be the earlier Labour government, a Social Welfare Commission and District Executive Committees were set up in 1990, with Māori representation on each.…”

Decolonization and Restorative Justice: A Proposed Theoretical Framework.

“…Thirdly, government-led RJ practices may result in additional harm. Tauri (1999) offers examples showing that New Zealand's FGC model for government-led RJ "fails to confirm that it empowers its Indigenous population" (p. 159). Strang and Sherman (2015) also exemplify harm by RJ especially for Aboriginal people in Australia: "The [RJ] experiment tells us that more victims were harmed, and offenders descended further and faster into crime when RJ conferences were used with [Aboriginal people] instead of prosecution in court" (Strang & Sherman, 2015, p. 10).…”