Turia Tariana: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to MinistersText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeTuria Tariana: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers[Sitting date: 10 April 2013. Volume:689;Page:9213. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]12.Hon TARIANA TURIA (Co-Leader—Māori Party) to theMinister of Police: What instructions will she be giving to New Zealand Police about the fact that despite a plethora of research reports and strategies to reduce youth crime today’s report from the youth law advocacy group Just Speak has just revealed that young Māori between the ages of 10 and 16 have a much higher chance of facing prosecution than young Pākehā?Mr SPEAKER: Before I call the Minister my office has been advised that this may be a longer answer than normal.Hon ANNE TOLLEY (Minister of Police): The figures released by JustSpeak need to be read with extreme caution. They are a basic comparison between the number of apprehensions and the resulting number of prosecutions. The figures do not show the number of offenders nor do they show the number of repeat offenders. The figures do not take into account whether evidence is available to successfully prosecute the seriousness of the offence an offender’s criminal history or an offender’s supportnetwork and these are all important factors when the police make decisions on whether to prosecute an offender or to use an alternative resolution. Although the Policing Act prevents me from instructing the police on operational matters I have discussed with both the police and the Department of Corrections how we can address Māori over-representation in the criminal justice system. An example of this is the Turning the Tide action plan which was released by the Commissioner of Police and prominent iwi late last year. One of the aims of this plan is to reduce the proportion of first-time youth and adult offenders who are Māori by 10 percent. The police also launched their national youth policing plan last year which aims to prevent first-time and repeat offending by young people with a focus on Māori.Hon Tariana Turia: Does the Minister agree with Tai Ahu who was speaking on Radio New Zealand National this morning that the way the criminal justice system is affecting Māori is disproportionate and it suggests that there is some level of systemic bias in the criminal justice system; and what strategies has she in place to address institutional bias?Hon ANNE TOLLEY: I strongly disagree that Māori are disproportionately represented in the criminal justice system because of institutional bias. People are prosecuted because they have committed a crime. Police have been working hard to build positive and constructive relationships with iwi and the community. These relationships are focused on preventing crime and victimisation and the fact that the crime rate has fallen for 3 years in a row is testament that this approach is now working.Hon Tariana Turia: Moana Jackson’s reportHe Whaipānga Houidentified these very issues about 30 years ago—what radical reform is the Minister planning to tackle this decades-old problem?Hon ANNE TOLLEY: There are a number of programmes in play at the moment which I will list for the member that have a particular focus on working with Māori youth. For instance the national youth policing plan that was launched last year focused on ensuring that police interact positively with young Māori people and focused on early intervention to stop childhood offending becoming a lifelong issue. I would also point to the police partnership with Blue Light the successful CACTUS programmes that the police are involved with many of which are done out of hours by police and also the police in schools programmes. All of these are in play at the moment and are part of a determined effort by both the police and iwi to ensure that young Māori people do not enter the justice system as young people and that they do not continue reoffending and appearing in front of our courts.