Ki Te Arotu Toward a New Assessment: The Identification of Cultural Factors Which May Pre-Dispose Māori to Crime

Kristen Maynard, Branko Coebergh, Brendan Anstiss, Leon Bakker, Terry Huriwai

Māori over-representation in the criminal justice system has been a concern to the Māori community and justice-sector government agencies for some time now. The nature and magnitude of this issue emphasises the need to put into place effective strategies and policies to address offending and reoffending by Māori. Integral to this is the accurate identification of risk factors that pre-dispose Māori to crime.

This paper discusses a current initiative by the Department of Corrections to develop a more effective means of identifying the rehabilitative needs of the New Zealand offender population - the Criminogenic Needs Inventory (CNI). A substantial component of the CNI focuses on measuring the number of unique Māori culture-related needs (MaCRNs), including cultural identity, cultural tension, whānau and whakawhānaunga (the formation of whānau-like relationships).

We examine the utility of including distinct cultural factors within a generic needs assessment process, and explore the implications such an approach could have for the development of more effective policy to address offending by Māori.