Eff'nhell, National...

[Lilith7]

Very interesting opinion piece here, and the last line says it all for me...

https://www.stuff.co.nz/opinion/12953316...he-ingroup

"Uffindell had the opportunity to quietly enrol at St Paul's Collegiate School. The headmaster at KingÔÇÖs never made a referral to police. Youth justice were never involved. Oranga Tamariki never made inquiries into the nature of UffindellÔÇÖs family life, scrutinising his parents for any evidence of a violent lifestyle. And yet if he were M─üori, attending a decile one school in a poor suburb, community leaders like the school headmaster, police, and government officials would read gang-bashing a sleeping third former rather differently. They would read it, in short, as criminal.


What, then, explains the difference between his treatment and the treatment of the mostly Māori men and women who are imprisoned for the same violence or less? Ethnicity, obviously. In 2020 JustSpeak found that police were almost twice as likely to charge a Māori offender as they were a Pākehā offender apprehended for the same crime.


Perhaps we should treat all violence with that degree of leniency. Circumstances matter. Of course, this isnÔÇÖt to minimise UffindellÔÇÖs violence with an appeal to mitigating factors. Instead, itÔÇÖs to point out that leniency is often granted only to people who are the right colour and with sufficient means. But if leniency is to exist it should apply as widely and as fairly as possible."


Some very interesting points in that. I think there are two things we should consider; one being that humans are very capable of change, even violent bullies, & that we now know that sending teenagers to prison virtually guarantees they'll carry on with a life of crime, while if they're given another penalty that becomes far less likely.

And its high time we recognised & changed, the differences in the way rich & poor, Maori & Pakeha are treated by our systems. Now would be a very good time to do that, with this as an excellent example.