Three Strikes will mean ‘unjust sentences and accelerate mass incarceration of Māori and Pasifika’

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. AdvertisementAdvertise with NZME. 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...