Crime in New Zealand - Characteristics of Offenders

Characteristics of Offenders

Offenders can be classified according to their individual characteristics or from a population based perspective. Lord Bingham, former Chief Justice for Britain and Wales describes the profile of a typical offender like this: "He is usually male, often of low intelligence, and addicted to drugs or alcohol, frequently from an early age. His family history will often include parental conflict and separation; a lack of parental supervision; harsh or erratic discipline; and evidence of emotional, physical or sexual abuse. At school he will have achieved no qualification of any kind, and will probably have been aggressive and troublesome, often leading to his exclusion or truancy. The background will be one of poverty, poor housing, instability, association with delinquent peers and unemployment".

This description applies equally well in New Zealand although it does not take account New Zealand's particular ethnic situation. New Zealand's crime statistics are compounded by the over-representation of Maori at every stage of the criminal justice process. Though Maori make up only 12.5% of the general population aged 15 and over, 42% of all criminal apprehensions involve a person identifying as Maori, as do 50% of those in prison. For Maori women, the picture is even more acute: they comprise around 60% of the female prison population. The rate of imprisonment for Maori is over 700 per 100,000 of Maori in the community, seven times higher than the rate for non-Maori which is around 100 per 100,000. This gives New Zealand an overall imprisonment rate of just under 200 per 100,000 of its population.

These statistics are open to a variety of interpretions. A report by the Corrections Department says: "The figures lend themselves to extremist interpretations: at one end, some accuse the criminal justice system of being brutally racist, as either intentionally or unintentionally destructive to the interests and well-being of Māori as a people. At the other, there are those who dismiss the entire Māori race as constitutionally 'criminally inclined'."