Monday, October 13, 2014

Declining criminal apprehensions

Te Uroroa Flavell is complaining about prejudice in the justice system leading to over-representation of Maori in crime statistics. Charted data can neither prove nor disprove his claims, but if I don't use Excel and NZ Stat regularly I forget what to do. Below is today's practise.

To get into the justice system an individual has to be apprehended. The annual number of Maori (aged 14-30) apprehensions is back to where it was in the early 1990s, whereas for non-Maori, the current number  is significantly lower. The downward trend is steeper for non-Maori.

Kiwi blog has a different chart showing Youth Offences in Court. But that demonstrates the same trend. A steeper decline for non-Maori. Which led me to reflect that 'non-Maori' are increasingly Asian so the cohort may be more law-abiding than in the past.

At least the trend is positive for both groups.



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