Citation

Hook GR. MAI Rev. 2009; 2009(3): Article 1.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2009, Nga Pae o te Maramatanga)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Māori domestic violence is at an all-time high. The conviction rates of Māori per unit of ethnic population for male assaults on females runs around 8 to 10 times higher than that of Pākehā and is steadily increasing. Conviction rates for other crimes such as drug-related offences runs four times higher for Māori than for Pākehā and four times higher for traffic offences. Conviction rates for non-violent sex crimes for Māori is twice that of Pākehā. For Pacific Islanders (PI) as a group, the conviction rates as compared with Pākehā for male assaults on females runs close to that of Māori, but unlike Māori appears to be diminishing with time. Convictions for drug-related offences are the same as Pākehā in terms of rates per unit PI population and traffic and non-violent sex offences are roughly twice that of Pākehā. Major changes in the conviction rates for domestic violence as measured by male assaults on females for all three ethnicities coincided with the advent of important legislation including the Domestic Protection Act 1982, the Domestic Violence Act 1995, and the Sentencing Act 2002 clearly suggesting, as might be expected, that legislation can influence crime statistics in New Zealand.