Three Strikes targets those ‘too brown to be white’ - Te Pāti Māori

Te Pāti Māori MP Takuta Ferris. Photo / RNZ

The decision to reintroduce Three Strikes is a destructive and ineffective piece of law-making that will only exacerbate an inherently biased and racist criminal justice system, says Te Pāti Māori justice spokesman Tākuta Ferris.

He said the last time Act’s ill-fated Three Strikes was in play, the statistics for Māori were appalling and Māori and Pasifika received over 50 per cent of the strikes awarded by the courts.

Ministry of Justice briefs have also established there was no evidence of this policy reducing crime, or having any obvious effect on crime rates at all, he said.

“We know unequivocally that being harder on crime equates to being harder on Māori and those too brown to be white. These numbers demonstrate it.

The Three Strikes law is back. Photo / File

“Modelled on US law that disproportionately targeted African Americans, Three Strikes has unjustly perpetuated racism and ensnared Māori with no evidence of reducing crime.

“We only have to look at 2022 research out of California showing that Three Strikes has no measurable deterrent effect, that it locks up African Americans, and that it does not address crime.

“This reckless law-making will result in unjust sentences and accelerate mass incarceration of Māori and Pasifika. It lacks evidence and is full of racial bias.”

But Prime Minister Christopher Luxon disagrees and believes the reintroduction of the Three Strikes legislation will benefit Māori.

Luxon said the legislation would target serious harm repeat offenders regardless of ethnicity and the legislation would end up benefiting Māori who were overly represented as victims.

But Ferris says that view is as narrow and shallow as many of the coalition MPs.

“Intelligent policy and rehabilitation, not punitive measures, are essential for a just society. This is not intelligent; it’s grandstanding for political perception.

“The only time Māori receive special treatment is when we are dealing with the criminal justice system. It has profiled and targeted tangata whenua for as long as it has existed in this country.

“The reintroduction of Three Strikes is to maintain this status quo,” concluded Ferris.