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Challenging Māori Imprisonment and Human Rights Ritualism

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Human Rights and Incarceration

Part of the book series: Palgrave Studies in Prisons and Penology ((PSIPP))

Abstract

United Nations’ (UN) reports have consistently shown concern over the high levels of incarceration of Māori. Drawing upon documentary analysis and interviews with Māori engaged in human rights and imprisonment work, this chapter shows how the New Zealand state manages its international human rights engagements in terms of ritualism and selective endorsement. Nonetheless, Māori engagement with the UN, and especially with Indigenous rights, remain vital in the challenge to discriminatory criminal justice system practices and to incarceration. This must be dovetailed with actions to subvert ritualism, by imagining new worlds beyond the prison, and to consolidate social, economic and cultural justice for Māori.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Criminology, Victoria University of Wellington, Wellington, New Zealand

    Elizabeth Stanley & Riki Mihaere

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  1. Elizabeth Stanley
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  2. Riki Mihaere
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Correspondence to Elizabeth Stanley .

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  1. Institute of Criminology, Victoria University of Wellington, Wellington, New Zealand

    Elizabeth Stanley

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Stanley, E., Mihaere, R. (2018). Challenging Māori Imprisonment and Human Rights Ritualism. In: Stanley, E. (eds) Human Rights and Incarceration. Palgrave Studies in Prisons and Penology. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-95399-1_4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-95399-1_4

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  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham

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