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# John Tamihere Romanticising Maori Crime
- URL: https://goodoil.news/john-tamihere-romanticising-maori-crime/
- Published: 2020-08-27T21:30:00.000Z
- Updated: 2020-08-27T01:40:29.000Z
- Author: Lindsay Mitchell
- Tags: Election 2020, NZ, NZ Politics, Politics, #wp, #wp-post, #Import 2024-07-17 03:00

**Lindsay Mitchell**  
[lindsaymitchell.blogspot.com](https://lindsaymitchell.blogspot.com/2020/08/john-tamihere-romanticising-maori-crime.html?ref=goodoil.news)

[According](https://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO2008/S00295/maori-party-declare-2020-a-covid-education-amnesty-year.htm?ref=goodoil.news) to John Tamihere, who has regrettably in my view taken the Maori Party down a full-blown victimhood track:

> Maori make up 60% of the prison population in New Zealand Women’s’ Prisons alone.  
>  
> “We are the most incarcerated indigenous population in the world. This is a national catastrophe and disgrace,” Tamihere said  
>  
> “80% of those women are there for crimes of dishonesty. They did not wake up and say to themselves today I’m going to steal and be dishonest,” he said.  
>  
> “They woke up and said I have to put food on my table. I have to get my kids to the doctors. I have to pay for their uniforms. I have to give them things that others take for granted. So they are in prison for crimes of poverty – not dishonesty.

It’s a self-deluded romantic apologist view.

The following stats are exported from customised [NZStat](http://nzdotstat.stats.govt.nz/wbos/Index.aspx?ref=goodoil.news) data:

[![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/31/f4/31f4e20a-0315-499e-83ff-139e8eab53bf/content/images/-Cp7yQBzck6M/X0YUAr67tJI/AAAAAAAAHvM/rsWEDSxvlcMibVVfukrWZxdNf5ydLiW9gCLcBGAsYHQ/w417-h357/sentenced-2bmaori-2bfemale-2bprisoners-2bfiscal-2byear-2b2018-2bto-2b19.png)](https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Cp7yQBzck6M/X0YUAr67tJI/AAAAAAAAHvM/rsWEDSxvlcMibVVfukrWZxdNf5ydLiW9gCLcBGAsYHQ/s521/Sentenced%2BMaori%2Bfemale%2Bprisoners%2Bfiscal%2Byear%2B2018%2Bto%2B19.png?ref=goodoil.news)

2018-19 sentenced population = 519

Which could be classed as ‘crimes of dishonesty’?

Robbery etc

Burglary etc

Theft etc

Fraud etc

Offences against justice etc

\= 327

63 percent

Dancing on a pinhead John might say when all crimes are taken into account his 80% is true. The graph will show the most serious crime sentenced for.

But semantics aside, do you accept that these crimes were perpetrated to acquire school uniforms and doctor visits for children?

Afterall tens of thousands other Maori mums didn’t turn to crime to look after their children.

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