Jackson believed (and continued to do so until his death) a parallel system of justice would ease these harrowing figures by connecting Māori offenders with their whānau and their victim (a form of restorative justice) as opposed to imprisonment.
"Indeed the legal truism that the justice system operates 'one law for all' contains implicit seeds of institutional racism since it is one law based on the English common law with no acknowledgment of specific Māori rights or forms of social control.
"This foundation and the consequent permeation of monocultural attitudes throughout the justice system impacts upon Māori people in particular ways. An analysis of these consequences will unavoidably raise questions about the systemic fairness of justice operations.
Today, Māori make up more than 50 per cent of the prison population despite making up only 15 per cent of the population as a whole - a bleak picture that hasn't changed in more than 30 years.
While the Whānau Āwhina "marae justice" system and Rangatahi Courts have suggested some movement in the parallel justice system direction, there's still resistance from most political parties - some likening it to "judicial apartheid". I would argue it's rather a case of politicians failing to make meaningful changes for fear of political suicide.
Jackson's parallel legal system wasn't his only profound accomplishment. Born in 1948, Jackson (Ngāti Kahungunu, Rongomaiwahine, Ngāti Porou) was the son of All Black Everard Jackson, and brother of prominent Māori activist and trade unionist Syd Jackson.
After graduating in law and criminology at Victoria University and working as a Māori language teacher, Jackson studied at Arizona State University in the US. It was there he also worked for the Navaho Legal Service.
After returning to New Zealand he co-founded the Ngā Kaiwhakamarama i Ngā Ture (the Māori Legal Service), before the Te Hau Tikanga, the Māori law commission.
In an international context, Jackson worked for the United Nations where he helped draft the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous peoples. He was a judge on the People's International Tribunal of Indigenous Rights in Hawaii in 1993, and again in 1995 in Canada. He also served as counsel for the Bougainville Interim government during the peace process in the 1990s.
In 2007, he resigned as a patron for the police after raids targeting Māori activists using contentious anti-terrorism powers. At the time he said he did "not buy that this was a racially neutral act".
"Every act of resistance by Māori since 1840 has been met with opposition … Those who take power unjustly defend it with injustice," he said.
In 2016, Jackson led work around constitutional reform, leading the Matike Mai Aotearoa working group that called for a complete overhaul of New Zealand's constitutional arrangements to better serve Māori interests.
Alongside lecturing at Te Wānanga o Raukawa in Ōtaki on the Ahunga Tīkanga (Māori Laws and Philosophy) degree programme, he also contributed to the Abuse in Care Royal Commission of Inquiry, which is ongoing.
At a 2019 hearing he said: "If this Commission finds some way to offer solace to those who have been abused, that will be some measure of justice long overdue. If it frames that comfort in a willingness to systemically and constitutionally address the overarching injustice of colonisation, that will be a justice which offers hope for the future."
There are no words to describe the impact Jackson has had on me, or this country. Instead I'll leave it to Law Society president Tiana Epati, who said: "No other person has had such an individual impact on the way we view and understand the criminal justice system. A gentle giant. A fierce advocate. One of the greatest legal revolutionaries of our generation. I very much doubt I will ever come across someone of his calibre and mana in my lifetime."
