Flavell raised the issue about a year ago and again in April this year in the presence of a United Nations delegation.
Latest Ministry of Justice figures show the number of children and young people charged in Youth Court is the lowest in 20 years, although the proportion of young Maori compared with non-Maori is rising.
Six years ago, Maori represented 48 per cent of youths facing charges in the Youth Court. The latest figures reveal that has jumped to 57 per cent.
Outgoing Police Minister Anne Tolley disputed the claims of racism by saying "police prosecute people because they commit a crime, not because of their race".
Figures Flavell waved around Parliament last year showed a 3.9 percent higher prosecution rate for thefts by Maori.
For the 3495 theft apprehensions recorded as Caucasian there were 588 prosecutions. For Maori, for the 5660 apprehensions recorded, 1173 resulted in prosecution, giving prosecution rates of 16.8 percent and 20.7 percent respectively.
Flavell appears oblivious that Maori commit a staggering greater number of offences.
With a total of 18,003 offences committed by young Maori in 2011 and 11,686 for Caucasian, there are still many more and proportionally many more offences committed by Maori since Maori only make up 16 percent of the population.
Flavell’s call for a review to find out why the justice system is allegedly failing Maori is either dopey in the extreme or a cynical attempt to blame the wicked white coloniser in a bid to raise his profile in Parliament.
12 comments:
To make an analogy here, I live beside a street where speeding offences are common. Its a very
busy street,very dangerous and so the law monitors that street.
Now I could say the Police are targeting me because they spend time on that street. But it is not true, the law is there because the place is dangerous.
In a relatively cynical discussion with a cop there, he told me this is where a lot of action is and this is our job.
I asked him why they pulled in a lot of old cars, and he said they are the cars without warrant of fitness, or registration.
Then he gave me a ticket for my old car.
There is some inaccuracy once again, in this debate. What is a maori? Where does the 16% of the population, the figures for crime come from? are these people maoris, or mixed race, (more European than maori)? this definition (the latter) applies to my family, what would get recorded in stats if they are arrested? It would be maori, but totally inaccurate.
The debate should be around chosen culture, and values or lack thereof, instilled in children, not about maoris, when that cannot be defined in any meaningful way. As long as we keep profiling people by race, the division and argument will continue
unbelievable, Flavell who heads a party that only exists because its openly racist in its very makeup, creates racist laws and privileges and is supported by the majority party who is not racist but bows to racist demands from the racist Maori party, then has the cheek to say our justice system is racist!. Could it be that the majority of young Maori are born to solo parents, are neglected and often abused (check out that crime stat), smoke dope like their parents, drink heavily, fail at school and join gangs could have something to do with it? naaa of course not , its all the fault of those wicked white oppressors, gosh that should be worth a few hundred more million in a settlement.
These stats tell me one thing, That white thieves are smarter than brown thieves in that the white thieves leave less evidence for prosecutors to convict them on. The brown thieves probably get caught red handed.
One ponders then "Why is the male Maori gender" at the higher end of the criminal activty per populace of our multi race mix of New Zealanders.
Most of the Tribal settlements have been paid out so why do the local runungas not get these people into work training and teach them that stealing or crime is never going to pay.
Then sometimes you have only got to look at the top enchelon of elders all around the gravy trough !! and find out where all the money goes.
We all get the same chance at education and employment regardless of race but it always seems to be the same story that reiterates back, because you are of coloured skin, poor me attitude, They got our land, Etc Etc Etc so now we pinch off the honky syndrome and away it goes again. The never ending circle of poor me.
Te Ururoa Flavell has just shown how incompetent he is with his new role.
Either, he must come out and state categorically that humans commit crimes because of their race.
Or, admit he has made a gross error in judgement with this stupid comment.
I have been saying for decades if we had no Maori, meaning we are New Zealanders, there would be no discussion
its amazing. I am a "landlord" in the most problems I have had are with Female Maoris. They lied, and cheated, and admitted to it in the tribunal when were awarded damages.
They even lie and cheat the system provided by WINZ, to extract money under false pretences. Maybe the Pakeha population has misfits like that as well, but I haven't experienced that yet.
B D
It's sad that Maori people are over-represented in the crime statistics. However, it's not hard to see why. Maoridom is run by people who are in power not because of their abilities, but because they are descended from tribal chiefs. One day, somebody is going to notice this and demand that tribes be led by elected people - not those who gain power because of their birth. The results will be immediate. We'll get young Maori herded into education and trade training and ..... employment. No more band-wagons for the idiots who now run Maoridom and who have no abilities at all.
A person I knew a long time ago came home drunk climbed through his house window kicked off his boots and fell asleep. Woke up to a screaming woman he realized he was in the wrong house jumped out the window and ran away leaving his boots. All state houses looked the same in Tokoroa.
I moved to hamilton where believe it or not but a councilor did exactly the same thing.
My friend who was half pacific island got convicted of breaking and entering the hamilton city councilor got discharged with out conviction.
The system is racist
It's important to realise that a significant number of Maori people, predominantly in city areas, have no tribal connections. An effort was made in the 1990's to have two Auckland Maraes recognised as Treaty partners, to take charge of the disenfranchised urban Maori people, to give them a tribe to belong to, with all of the social attributes that this would give. The proposal was vehemently opposed by the tribes, and the matter was heard by the High Court, where the application was defeated. I think it is now necessary NOT to list Maori offenders as a single entity, but to list them as either being tribal Maoris or urban Maoris without any tribal connection. You might just get a surprise to find out which group is so disaffected that it perpetrates the majority of Maori crime in NZ. I think it is now time for the case to be reheard, and that the two Maraes be regarded as tribal entities, which will give these many thousands of dark-skinned people a sense of belonging, and will encourage them to look after their children, feed them properly, send them to school, ensure that they (the parents and the children) learn literacy and numeracy skills, and become valued members of the community. Until that happens, we're just going to get more and more of the same old problems, generation after generation.
Regarding the above post of Anonymous, 17th Oct at 11:31am : Surely this would not apply to the theiving young thug who is the son of the Maori king and belonging to possibly the most notable marae in N.Z.
Your analogy is false - there is something else!
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