JustSpeak - Maori and the Criminal Justice System - Rethinking ...
JustSpeak - Maori and the Criminal Justice System - Rethinking ...
JustSpeak - Maori and the Criminal Justice System - Rethinking ...
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ensure young people are aware of <strong>the</strong>ir rights, particularly when detained or<br />
questioned (fur<strong>the</strong>r, rules should be modified to allow for whānau involvement in<br />
this process). Legal education should continue to change, <strong>and</strong> Māori law should<br />
be compulsory. A public defenders’ service should be set up, drawing on<br />
precedents in Australia <strong>and</strong> <strong>the</strong> United States of America, to ameliorate problems<br />
with <strong>the</strong> duty solicitors scheme. Jury rules should be revised, to allow for <strong>the</strong><br />
possibility that Māori might be tried by an all-Māori jury (to guarantee trial by<br />
peers). Court staff should complete Māori education. There must be more Māori<br />
involved in <strong>the</strong> Law Commission.<br />
Caution must be used when courts are hosted on marae: this may constitute a<br />
colonisation of Māori space. It is not good enough, says Jackson, for a pōwhiri<br />
<strong>and</strong> karakia to be said, <strong>and</strong> <strong>the</strong>n for courts to conduct “business as usual”.<br />
Judges must be educated, <strong>and</strong> real thought should be given to allowing culture to<br />
be taken into account at sentencing. Moreover, diversionary schemes used by<br />
police must not get overly bureaucratised. Jackson proposes, imaginatively, that<br />
it be possible that cases be referred to Māori community groups. The<br />
Department of <strong>Justice</strong> does not escape Jackson’s scrutiny, ei<strong>the</strong>r. It needs a<br />
cultural advisory group; affirmative action to secure employment of those who are<br />
expert in te ao Māori; a change in interview practices (to allow whānau support<br />
groups to speak to applicants’ qualities); a renewed commitment to biculturalism<br />
in training; <strong>and</strong> <strong>the</strong> use of secondments to iwi.<br />
Most fundamentally, perhaps, Jackson says <strong>the</strong>re may even be a need for a<br />
separate Māori system of criminal justice. People accept institutions, processes<br />
<strong>and</strong> sanctions when <strong>the</strong>y have legitimacy. There is a real question, notes<br />
Jackson, around whe<strong>the</strong>r <strong>the</strong> current institutions, processes <strong>and</strong> sanctions have<br />
legitimacy for Māori. A separate system might resolve this legitimacy problem.<br />
Such a solution would not constitute separatism. It would constitute a<br />
commitment to equal results that are achieved through <strong>the</strong> use of different<br />
procedures. The “one law for all” model is not achieving equal results, <strong>and</strong><br />
represents a system insensitive to difference. One side-effect of a separate<br />
system is that <strong>the</strong> general law might benefit from being informed by experiences<br />
in <strong>the</strong> Māori legal system.<br />
The rights of Māori are not in doubt, says Jackson. Aboriginal rights exist;<br />
international law affirms <strong>the</strong>se rights; <strong>and</strong> it is now widely acknowledged that <strong>the</strong><br />
Treaty has legal st<strong>and</strong>ing. These factors must be translated into legal structures<br />
that Māori want, such as perhaps a Māori Law Commission, a Centre for Cultural<br />
Research, <strong>and</strong> a Māori sentencing panel. Tino rangatiratanga must be upheld,<br />
<strong>and</strong> monoculturalism needs to be rejected. Jackson closes by saying that <strong>the</strong><br />
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