Hāpaitia te Oranga Tangata

Safe and Effective Justice

We are working on long term solutions to improve community safety and the way justice works and we want to listen to everyone involved. This is just the beginning and it will take time, but we have to make a start as the system isn’t working.

What is the situation now*?

We have one of the highest imprisonment rates in the OECD, and it's continuing to grow.

There are around 220 people in prison per 100,000 New Zealanders, compared to the OECD average of around 147 prisoners per 100,000 people.

Māori are overrepresented at every stage in the criminal justice system.

Māori are 38% of people proceeded against by Police, 42% of people convicted, and 50% of people in prison.
This is despite Māori being only approximately 15% of the New Zealand population.

Our reoffending rates are high.

Around 60% of people are reconvicted within 2 years following release from prison.
Around 42% are re-imprisoned after 2 years following release from prison.

Most people that are in the criminal justice system have been abused.

53% of women and 15% of men in prison have experienced a sexual assault.
77% of people in prison have been victims of violence.

We can do better than this.

So where do we start?

We held a Criminal Justice Summit to listen to ideas and have a fresh conversation about what you want from our criminal justice system.

We are involving and building partnerships with Māori, community groups and business so we can collaborate and design long-term solutions that work for future generations.

Read the information release about the Criminal Justice Summit.

*Figures are from the Ministry of Justice and the Department of Corrections.

This page was last updated: 4th February 2019