Most of you would have come across or heard about the different sentencing between a group of white teenagers and Maori father David Pake Leef, that was all over Facebook a few weeks ago.
(have a read in the link below)
It had come up in conversation yesterday during lunch break at work, and my fellow colleagues were shocked to hear that I didn't think 'white privilege' had anything to do with their sentencing. To an extent you could say that the four teens had a fair sentence, while Leef didn't. But the fact is that we are comparing one case to another, which is essentially two different judges and two completely different scenarios. If you look deeper into the context of their cases you'll find that the four teenagers did not get off lightly; as their jail sentence would have been up to 2 years had they not been able to make good on their crimes, but as first time offenders they have to pay it all back and are under house arrest for almost a year as well as 300 hours of community service.
David Leef had been found guilty of poaching charges in November 2014, but failed to appear in court and a warrant was issued for his arrest, therefore he was sentenced 3 months, plus an extra moth for breach of bail. We have to also acknowledge the fact that the 4 teenagers crimes were domestic and Leef's offending damaged what is seen as government property, which is seen as more serious. Perhaps if Leef had not breached his bail, he would not have received such a hefty sentence.
However I felt the real issue was the way in which the media had presented each story. That the media themselves are complicit in the ongoing racism in this country. I noticed the two opening paragraphs from each article in regard to how the parties were described. a) "A sentence of home detention of four Northland Teenagers..." b)"A trout poacher has been jailed...". The young teens were still defined by their humanity, while the description of Leef deems that he has lost his humanity and is defined by his crime! But when comparing the two cases I felt 'white privilege' did not play a part in this case. What are your thoughts?
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