31
Maaramatanga
Understanding what works to reduce offending by young Maori
Prepared by: Lavinia Nathan, Dave Kaire and Kaye McLaren for the Ministry of Justice
– February 2008
Copyright 2008. Dave Kaire, Lavinia Nathan, Kaye McLaren, and Ministry of Justice. This document is the joint intellectual property of the aforementioned. No changes deletions or additions may be made without the permission of the authors.
Maaramatanga
(Understanding)
He aha te pai ka puta i ngaa hee?
He maaramatanga te pai ka puta
He whakairo i te whakaaro.
Quite simply “What good comes from a mistake?”
“Understanding is the principle benefit, as the mind is shaped by the experience”.
What works to reduce offending by rangatahi Maori
Executive summary
Kei te pai te rongo. The news is good. Offending by young Maori can be reduced. This is despite the feeling of hopelessness about it that is prevalent in this country. Research shows that the same things that work for other young people work for young Maori and their whanau. In addition, adding in cultural content and contact makes intervention with young Maori even more effective. The conclusion is that:
Bicultural practice is effective practice
But it is not a matter of doing the same things for every young Maori person or their whanau, because not everyone has the same needs. In fact it is clear that:
One size does not fit all
Interventions need to be tailored to fit the particular young person and their whanau, and where they are in terms of their comfort level with things Maori. Otherwise there is a risk of them becoming alienated and dropping out early.
Young Maori have some special risk factors, but being Maori is not one of them
Research shows that ethnicity is not a big predictor of offending – it is more that coming from a disadvantaged background makes offending more likely. Young Maori are more likely to come from a disadvantaged background, therefore they are more likely to offend. There is also some evidence that Police may over-focus on Maori in some areas. Lack of contact with Maori culture does seem to be a risk factor, although more research is needed to find out how big a risk factor it is.
When the cultural needs of young Maori are met the impact on crime is greater
In general rangatahi Maori have the same offending-related needs as any other young person. However, more contact with Maori culture and protocols seems to increase the impact of programmes on offending, provided that the programmes are effective to start with. Addressing only cultural needs does not appear to reduce offending.
Another important issue is what young Maori and their whanau want in programmes, as if programmes match their needs they are more likely to attend. Research so far shows that:
Rangatahi Maori and their whanau want the best of both worlds in programmes
Research by Te Puni Kokiri found that rangatahi Maori and their whanau wanted cultural content and culturally knowledgeable staff. But they also wanted content in programmes that addressed their needs that were directly linked to offending, such as employment and anger management, as well as staff who were good teachers and skilled at relating to them.
To best engage with rangatahi Maori and their whanau staff need to know what their cultural comfort zone is and work within that
As part of the ‘one size does not fit all’ principle, it is important to know what the ‘cultural comfort zone’ of young Maori and whanau is. This enables staff to be sensitive to this in terms of how much reo or Maori protocols they use, thus engaging positively and avoiding alienating young people and families.
Cultural assessment is the best way to work out what a young person’s and whanau’s cultural comfort zone and cultural needs are
The best way of identifying each young person’s ‘cultural comfort zone’ is to do a cultural assessment. This involves a skilled person asking sensitively about things such as alienation from Maori culture, knowledge of te reo, iwi, whakapapa, and marae protocols, level of contact with Maori culture and whether those contacts have been positive and negative. This knowledge can not only help staff engage but also feed into plans to make sure rangatahi are more likely to be motivated to do them.
Bicultural programmes are best developed in partnership with tangata whenua.
We have established that bicultural practice is good practice. Mainstream programmes that want to become more bicultural are best to do this in partnership with local iwi, through runanga and other organisations, and through employing a cultural advisor. Kaupapa Maori programmes that want to incorporate more cognitive behavioural techniques can consult with experts in this area.
Introduction
Why are there more rangatahi Maori in the youth justice system than youth from other ethnic groups? What is the best way to address their offending and make it possible for them to fulfil their potential? These questions are being asked and debated throughout New Zealand. The purpose of this e-flash is to consider some of the issues, drawing on the research to date on ‘what works’ for rangatahi Maori and indigenous people in general.
This e-flash is structured around seven topics relevant to reducing offending by rangatahi Maori. These are, in the order they are covered:
1. Explaining high levels of offending by rangatahi Maori
2. What are the risk factors for offending by rangatahi Maori?
3. Do rangatahi Maori have special programme needs?
4. What do rangatahi Maori and their whanau want in programmes?
5. How can staff best engage with rangatahi Maori
6. Doing cultural assessment – why and what, and
7. Developing bicultural programmes.
Each topic has a brief discussion of research findings followed by suggestions for practical actions for staff in the field.
There is also a glossary at the end of English translations of Maori terms used in the e-flash.
Mai i ngaa mamaetanga o mua,
ka tipu te mamae o teenei raa.
Mai i te mohiotanga o mua,
ka mohio puu ki te mamae.
From the sorrows of the past
Comes the pain of today
In the wisdom of the past
Is the understanding of the pain?
1. Explaining high offending levels by rangatahi Maori
It is clear from the limited evaluations and statistics that exist that Maori have a high rate of offending, being almost four times more likely to be convicted of an offence than non-Maori.[1]
Despite this, the research shows that being Maori is not in and of itself a factor linked directly to offending. Rather, it appears that Maori are more likely to experience the kinds of social adversities (such as poverty, poor accommodation, lack of education, unemployment, difficult upbringing etc) that would put anyone at risk of offending. Higher offending rates by Maori appear due to more Maori experiencing poor social conditions, not to being Maori per se. This greater exposure to adversity can be seen as the by-product of colonisation, loss of cultural identity, assimilation and so forth.[2]
In addition, it is possible that offending rates for young Maori might not actually be as high as they appear. The Christchurch longitudinal study found that Police reported more offending by young Maori than rangatahi and their whanau did. Police figures showed that Maori youth offended 2.9 times as often as non-Maori. Rangatahi and whanau supports showed that they offended only 1.7 times as often as non-Maori. This suggests that Police may be over focusing on rangatahi Maori, and assuming they are responsible for more crime than in fact they are, thus distorting offending statistics. So, actual levels of offending by rangatahi Maori are higher than by non-Maori, but possibly not as high as they appear.[3]
So on the balance of the evidence to date; it seems that social factors are more to blame for high rates of offending by rangatahi Maori than cultural factors. That does not mean that cultural knowledge and pride do not play an important part in effective programmes, and we will look at that in more depth later.
Practical action points
· In terms of crime prevention, this suggests that focusing on reducing whanau disadvantage is important, by providing help with income, accommodation, employment, preschool and school attendance, parenting skills, violence prevention, drug and alcohol treatment etc.’
2. What are the risk factors for offending for rangatahi Maori?
A ‘risk factor’ is something that indicates that a person is more likely to get involved in crime at some later point if that factor is present in their life. It is a red flag that warns that offending may occur. The more risk factors – or red flags - there are in a person’s life, the more likely it is that they will commit an offence at some time in the future.
One international study noted that assessment of risk in youth has received a lot of attention from the public and correctional authorities. This is in large part because of concern about high rates of youth offending, and the need to identify those who will most likely offend as young as possible in order to stop them as soon as possible. This study went on to say that:
Violent crime by delinquent youth has increased markedly from the 1980s, with juvenile offenders often described as a vulnerable, multi-problem population, with high co-occurring rates of psychiatric; substance abuse, and abuse issues.[4]
The violence apprehension rate of 14 to 16 year olds increased 25.3% in the nine years between 1997 and 2006. For 17 to 20 year olds it increased by 26.4% over the same period.[5] In 2006 over a quarter (26%) of all proved cases involving young people were for violent offences[6].
Only a small number of young people are imprisoned in New Zealand. In 2006, 3.3% of proved cases involving young people resulted in imprisonment (65 cases). Young people sentenced to imprisonment tend to be serious and/or repetitive offenders with very high re-conviction rates[7].
However, youth have the highest rate of re-imprisonment of all age brackets. Figures show that 24.5% are re-imprisoned within six months after release. The very high proportion of 71.5% is re-imprisoned within five years of release[8]. Once again, these young people are likely to be from the small group of very chronic and serious offenders who start offending in childhood.
The development of risk assessment stems from the need to identify those individuals who have a higher risk of future offending, and commit the greatest number of crimes. This is so that limited resources can be allocated to where there is the greatest likelihood of offending and thus make the most impact on reducing crime. There is a growing body of literature around identifying chronic adult offenders so that intervention strategies may reduce the risk of reoffending[9]. However, by the time an adult is identified as a chronic offender they have already amassed a large and devastating criminal history.
In assessing risk of future offending by rangatahi Maori it is important to know if there are any special risk factors that apply to them and not to other ethnic or cultural groups. So far risk factors identified for both Maori and non-Maori youth are fairly similar. They include:
· family characteristics such as low income and low levels of education
· mixing with anti-social peers who are actively involved in criminal activities
· abusing drugs and alcohol
· having unstructured leisure time, and
· having anti-social personality traits such as impulsiveness and lack of empathy.[10]
However, little research has been carried out on risk factors that may apply only to Maori and other indigenous groups, but not to other ethnic or cultural groups, When looking for the reasons that more rangatahi Maori become involved in crime than youth from other cultures, people often turn to lack of knowledge of and pride in the traditional culture as an explanation. Research from Aotearoa led by Dr Gabrielle Maxwell has failed to show that these factors predict offending by rangatahi.[11] However, one key study has found that re-offending is reduced for Maori (but not other ethnic groups) when an already effective programme introduces a high level of contact with Maori culture.[12] This means that lack of contact with Maori culture and knowledge of tikanga Maori can be seen as risk factors for offending.[13] The logical implication of this finding is that cultural knowledge and contact need to be assessed for Maori when assessing overall risk of reoffending.
To summarise, it is clear that assessment of risk factors is needed in order to identify who is most likely to go on to commit the most crime. It is particularly important to identify those young people who are responsible for high levels of offending and dangerous, violent crimes. Generally, the risk factors are assessed will be the same for Maori and non-Maori. But there is some evidence that assessment of specifically cultural needs could be useful in assessing risk overall. Just how to do this is covered in more detail later in this e-flash.
Practical action points:
· Use well researched risk assessment tools for youth to assess future risk of offending, such as the Youth Levels of Service/Case Management Inventory (YLS-CMI) or Asset
· Carry out a cultural assessment of the young person at the risk assessment stage. This will help with programme planning and engaging with rangatahi Maori and whanau. (How to carry out a cultural assessment is covered in more depth later in this e-flash).