Wednesday morning 29th Aug we interviewed Prof. John Pratt – probably NZ’s leading criminologist. He spoke about some very interesting realities concerning NZ’s criminal justice system which I am bullet-pointing here.
- The UK, Australia and NZ have a far more punitive approach to criminal justice when compared with the Nordic restorative approach.
- NZ is even more punitive than Australia or the UK when comparing the very similar rates of crime and with the length of prison sentences.
- Harsher sentencing and tough bail and remand laws have not reduced recidivism – this is proof that the punitive approach is not working?
- He spoke about the rise of “Penal Populism”. The crime rate has been falling for years and yet the prison population and corrections spending has ballooned. Since crime rates are falling, logically, there should be less public fear of crime, less political preoccupation with crime and fewer concerns about prison measures being too lenient, but this is not the case. A significant contributor to this situation is the media which has little interest in balanced reporting of crime and punishment. When they sensationalise crimes it has an effect of creating a climate of fear and anger, which is capitalized on by politicians who want to out-bid each other to be “Tough on Crime” to get elected.
Prof. John Pratt at home.
He mentioned that the media can have the effect of both shaping, solidifying and directing public sentiment and opinion on crime and punishment, while simultaneously reflecting it back as the authentic voice(s) of ordinary people. Could you give some examples of how this has occurred?
- He recounted that when he informed a Nordic prison official, that almost 60% of inmates in NZ prisons had literacy issues, the official asked “how can you have a modern society with such high functional illiteracy?”
- He also spoke in a very compelling way about the effect colonization and systemic bias has had on Maori and is the major underlying cause of why only 15% of the NZ population is Maori, but they represent slightly over 50% of the prison population and the figure is even higher for women.
Judge Andrew Becroft at the Children’s Commission office
On Wednesday afternoon we interviewed Judge Andrew Becroft, NZ’s Commissioner for Children and formerly the head of the Youth Court. Some of the issues he spoke about are below:
NZ youth justice system is hailed as world-leading with emphasis on change, rehabilitation, community involvement and positivity and yet it’s as if at age 18 it all changes and we turn into one of the most punitive, and punishment based judgmental systems in the world. He questions how two such systems can exist in the one land?
He spoke of areas that should be of principle concern to not create a pipeline from childhood to an adult offender.
- Criminal justice starts before birth, in NZ there are up to 3,000 Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) births per year. How many children and adults have we imprisoned that have significant brain impairment? The Ministry of Health has been inactive for too long on this issue. Need health warnings on alcohol packaging. TV campaign warning on alcohol consumption during pregnancy.
- First 1,000 days of child’s life – the battle to keep them out of jail will be won or lost. They may suffer from trauma and neglect, especially children of prisoners.
- We have been called the most un-fathered generation in the history of the world. Impulse control at age 3 or 4 is single most important factor and can be taught.
Twin pillars – alcohol/drugs and family violence. If we took alcohol out of youth and adult courts, maybe 70% of the charges would disappear. We wimped out, as a country, of the law commission recommendations to reduce alcohol availability to young people. Alcohol is sometimes cheaper than water. Warriors with Woodstock alcohol label on their sleeves. The very product that is associated with criminal offending.
We have to address the shame of enduring overrepresentation of indigenous people in justice system. Three areas of focus need to be:
- Child poverty material disadvantage. High risk for poor life outcomes including offending. Most serious offending comes from a background of material poverty and profound disadvantage.
- Earlier intervention would be profoundly effective.
- The enduring colonization and modern-day systemic bias and most of us are part of a system even if we know it or not, that demonstrates systemic bias.
The role of education on crime. “Better health, better attendance at school, better performance at school, less involvement with the criminal justice system. The downstream effects ought to be enormous.”
Youth court stats show us that appearances have dropped about 12% for the general population, but Maori youth appearances are up 23%. We know there is a problem with disparity, so why does the gap persist?
- Numbers are coming down for Maori, but not as quickly as for Europeans, so the over-representation continues.
- Secondly, it’s quite a small group numerically.
- It’s troubling if we label all Maori being a Maori problem. Most Maori children thrive and do well. It’s not a youth-justice issue; it’s an issue in every system of government, health or education. We see that over-representation, and we have to own this. Is there any country in the world where the colonisation process has been other than bad for children? That’s the reality. It’s been bad for indigenous children. There’s a combination of systemic discrimination, unconscious bias. They are the big issues, and the stats are replicated in all other areas. The challenge for our country is to look at it system wide. How can we do better for our indigenous children?
“I think we will have a revolution of our understanding of our young people in the next 20 to 30 years, especially from the criminal justice point of view. I suspect history might judge us quite harshly. We judge those in the Victorian era of having a very crude approach to child welfare … well I think a lot of what we’re doing right now might be judged as almost, putting it crudely, sending a blind person to prison because they can’t see.”
You have expressed concern at the growing inequality in New Zealand. The 1960s and 70s in the New Zealand had an enormous middle class, and we weren’t too conscious of extremes of wealth. It’s a different New Zealand now. We know that inequality is growing. And I think that’s an issue that we must face as a country.” Please speak to this point and specifically to:
- Poverty as a high risk factor for offending.
- The relative poverty in New Zealand is pretty profound where we have pockets of a third generation permanent underclass.