Iwi panel: justice that works

Ralph Walker and Peter Gibson

THERE was a bit of argy-bargy in the takeaway drive-in and, wanting to do the right thing, the young man hopped out of his car to deliver a few choice words to the brawlers.

At first it seemed to have worked but, after he returned to his vehicle, he was subject to a barrage of abuse as the headlights to his car were booted in.

It could have been any takeaway joint in any town and, generally, would have resulted in any number of charges being laid.

Not this time.

This time the police opted to keep the scrappy first-time offender out of the mainstream court system which, if history is anything to go by, could see the start of a life of crime rather than an end to it.

Instead, they sent him to the Te Runanganui o Ngati Porou-administered Iwi Justice Panel. One of three being trialled throughout the country, the Ngati Porou Iwi Justice Panel (NPIJP) has been in place since July, 2014 and in that time has processed nearly 220 offenders, with a reoffending rate estimated at around 2.5 percent.

That’s a big win. Figures in the Ministry of Justice report Better Public Services state that, to December, 2015, there was a reoffending rate of 28 percent for those that went through the mainstream system.

Not only Maori winnersIt’s not only Maori who are the winners: though located at the runanganui, NPIJP is available to offenders of all ethnicities.

And it’s not only for the young: the Ngati Porou panel has worked with offenders aged in their 60s.

“If we just keep doing what we’ve been doing, rates of offending aren’t going to go down,” says Constable Whiti Timutimu, runanganui-based iwi liaison officer and co-ordinator of the NPIJP.

“The low rates of reoffending show that this system works and that is going to be seen into the future,” she says.

“Our job is to get the police, the victims and the community on board with us.”

To be considered for referral to the panel, offenders must be aged 17 or older; must admit to their crime; and their offence must carry a maximum penalty of six months’ imprisonment (family violence and methamphetamine offences are excluded).

“They then sign a commitment to taking part in the process and front up to the runanga for a pre-conference discussion,” Timutimu says.

“We encourage them to bring a support person and nine out of 10 times that is going to be a member of their whanau. If they don’t have any support, we will find someone for them.”

Hearings are attended by three panel members, the offender and their support person. If the victim wants to, they and their support person may also attend but there is no pressure on them to be there.

Offenders share ideasIt’s not over quickly — at the start of the process offenders share their ideas about what they can bring to the table in terms of making amends, then spend the next three months doing just that.

“They have to own what they have done, make it right as best they can and have a look at what their goals in life might be,” says Timutimu.

As such, the process does not just address the crime in question. Having evaluated their goals, the offender might be guided into work or further education.

“It’s about setting goals and working alongside them to get them on their way,” she says. “The reason it works is because we have the right people sitting at the table.”

Sitting two days a week, the NPIJP rotates a pool of around a dozen panellists who, once properly vetted, work on a volunteer basis.

Generally they tend to be older simply because of the time required and though the majority are Ngati Porou, some are Pakeha and other iwi like Te Aitanga a Mahaki.

As Whiti Timutimu says, “the panel has to be representative of our community”.

A panellist of Ngati Porou descent, Ralph “Papa Rau” Walker says though he was “tricked” into signing on, it’s the best thing he’s ever done.

A couple of years ago, Walker was invited to a luncheon at the offices of Te Runanganui o Ngati Porou staged in the guise of being a celebration of the community’s pakeke — or elders.

Pinned downIt was a trick. They fed him all right, but they also pinned him down and proposed that he join the Iwi Justice Panel.

“I thought, OK, I’m 75, getting up there, so it was fair enough that I go to this pakeke luncheon,” he laughs.

“Then when I found what it was actually about I thought, sure, that fits. All my life I’ve been drawn to people who I’ve seen as being products of a system I was a part of.”

An educator by profession, Walker in the 1990s moved to Auckland to help develop a new school curriculum, then spent four years running a school within the Weymouth Home For Boys.

“All the time I was there I was thinking ‘why is this kid here, why is that kid here?’,” he says. “I wondered why the system worked the way it did and why I was seeing all these brown faces in front of me.”

Drawn home to Gisborne by family, any thoughts of a quiet life were dismissed when he soon became involved as a lay advisor for the marae-based youth court, Te Kooti Rangitahi.

Now, he also spends at least a couple of days working with the NPIJP.

“At this stage of my life I have to make good choices about how I spend my time and, to me, this is a good choice,” he says.

“The way I look at it is that all the things I have done in my life have been leading up to this.”

The panel is a fairly even mix of men and women, Pakeha and Maori and, Timutimu says, a few are former teachers who still want to make a contribution to their community.

That’s the case with former Lytton High School principal Peter Gibson who, coincidentally, taught at Tolaga Bay Area School at the same time as Ralph Walker over 50 years ago.

Partly though the inspiration of his Ngati Porou wife Haereroa — also a panel member — Gibson has for years worked on initiatives dealing with issues from Maori youth crime to environmental projects, including a revegetation drive out at their home settlement of Whangara.

Did not hesitate to joinAnd he says they didn’t hesitate when asked to join the panel.

“Right throughout my career I have wondered why it is that so many Maori get into trouble and the problems I see are a lack of work so you get the combination of boredom and alcohol,” he says.

“From our perspective, we can turn around every one of the people we see here and if that happens, then our community becomes a better place.”

If an offender can’t come up with a practical way of making reparation to a victim, they may be put to work on a project like the Tyndall Road Community Garden or the aforementioned revegetation project, or they might be packed off to mow a local pakeke’s lawn.

“Part of our role is helping them find a way to make amends to the community,” Gibson says, “and there are lots of ways they can do that.”

Panel members love to see an offender supported by whanau but say it’s no trouble to help identify a mentor to, as Ralph Walker puts it, “walk alongside them on their journey”.

“Sometimes they come in and you can tell they don’t think we are here to help,” says Peter Gibson. “But we are, and most of them realise that pretty quickly.”

Police on sideHaving the police on side is crucial to making sure the Justice Panel works and Ralph Walker says though he’s sometimes been suspicious of police in the past, he reckons there are now some “good cops in town” who are willing to do things differently for the good of the community.

“There’s often no point in just slapping someone in the cells, especially when some of the people you are dealing with have backgrounds completely devoid of love and support,” he says.

“We’re seeing that young Maori men, in particular, need to learn how to have positive relationships and this can be a step forward for them.”

But both say avoiding charges and instead appearing before the panel is not a soft option.

“No way,” Walker says. “There is payback and if they’re going to move forward they have to own that.”

The future of Iwi Justice Panels is at a crucial stage as, the test period now over, the trial panels have been subject to review.

Between them the three panels received $265,000 in funding but whether that support continues is dependent on the result of those reviews, which the Ministry of Justice says will likely be seen around early May.

Ralph Walker and Peter Gibson hope it does and more than half a century after both taught at that little East Coast school, they’re delighted to be reunited on the Ngati Porou Iwi Justice Panel.

“It’s just fantastic to reconnect on something as important as this,” Gibson says. “It’s a chance to make a real difference.”