A sizeable chunk of the racism experienced by minorities in
New Zealand stems from institutional bias.
Unlike overt racism, which tends to be more ‘obvious’, institutional
racism is arguably even more insidious due to its silent nature, which means
that it often goes unchecked. This type of discrimination is ingrained into our
social and political institutions, such as our educational and judicial systems
through archaic bias and policies.
Recently, we’ve been starkly reminded that our judicial
system, a system that is supposed to be impartial and objective, may be
maintaining a severe bias; after the media recently covered a story on four
young affluent teens whom had been breaking into coastal properties in Northland.
They reaped over $80,000 in stolen goods, far above the 'petty thief' threshold
- this was larceny on a grand scale.
However, instead of being sent to prison, the teens received
the usual slap-on-the-wrist with a wet bus ticket and were sentenced to home
detention. A rather lenient sentence which has been the subject of debate on
social media this week, as people have been quick to claim that since they were
white, they received a preferable treatment. And if they had been Maori, they
would have been sent to prison.
While there is no doubt that there may be some sort of
racial bias in New Zealand's judicial system, it's hard to definitely say that
this was the case here, as there are too many mitigating factors; Judge, jury,
offender history, defense, family support, offender's future and so on. These
things are not so black and white. They do not exist in a vacuum. And I'd be
quicker to call the result of this case a class issue, rather than a race
issue.
Regardless, what this public sentence has done is it has got
people talking about issues Maori are facing in New Zealand society, where they
are grossly over-represented in the crime stats and incarceration rates. So
perhaps this could be a good chance to look at why this is. Explore options for
reform. Either way, it will be tough.
Source:
I remember reading about this situation all over Facebook a few weeks ago. A little later, this case was compared to one where a Māori man, who stole some fish to feed his family, was sentenced to prison. There was outrage over the fact that a few white boys who caused over $80,000 in damages received more lenient sentences than a man who just stole some fish. He, a father, was going to be taken away from his family while the white boys got to stay at home with their families and have no real impacts on their lives. I guess that's more evidence for how subconsciously (or consciously?) racist our judicial system is.
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