Cultural Injustice

NZCPR Podcast

In 2019 the Labour Party introduced a new corrections policy called Hokai Rangi. It takes a tikanga Maori approach to sentencing.

The Minister behind the scheme was Kelvin Davis. He said it would make the corrections system work better for Maori who make up more than half of the prison population. He said the objective was to reduce the number of Maori in prison to match the Maori share of the general population.

But has it worked? Or is it a get-out-of-jail-free card for Maori offenders? Is it making our communities unsafe?