Source: Radio New Zealand
RNZ / Nate McKinnon
More than half of adults have a low fear of crime, according to new data.
The annual Crime and Victims survey last year introduced a new set of questions about the public’s perceptions of crime and the justice system.
The 2024 results out on Wednesday showed 56 percent of adults had a low fear of crime, 23 percent have a moderate fear, and 22 percent high fear.
Those aged 30 to 64, Asian and Pacific, and those living in lower socioeconomic areas or in financial stress were more likely to have higher fear of crime.
The survey also found just under half of New Zealanders have “full trust” (14.4 percent) or “quite a lot” (34.8 percent) of trust in the justice system, while about a third (33.4 percent) had “some trust”; 12.6 percent “not much trust” and 4.8 percent “no trust”.
Māori were least likely to trust the legal system (36.1 percent) compared to the New Zealand average (49.2 percent), while Asians (62.5 percent) were most likely to report trust in the legal system.
A smaller proportion of adult Māori (33 percent) were likely to trust the fairness of the justice system even when they felt safe than non-Māori (52 percent).
The survey found feeling safe significantly improved confidence in fairness by 20 percentage points for non-Māori, whereas it improved confidence in fairness by a non-statistically significant 13 percentage points for Māori.
Māori adults were also less confident that the criminal justice system was fair regardless of whether they faced financial stress.
People who had been a victim of a crime were significantly less likely (44 percent) to have high trust in the legal system than the average, and highly victimised adults even more so (36 percent).
Services for victims (75.9 percent) and Police (72.8 percent) were the most highly trusted within the Crime and Justice System, the prison service (44.8 percent) and parole boards (42.3 percent) were the least trusted.
Māori (31 percent), Europeans (43 percent), bisexual (34 percent) and LGBTQ+ adults (34 percent) had significantly lower confidence in the fairness of the criminal justice system than the New Zealand average (47 percent), while Asian adults (64 percent) and those aged 65 and over (54 percent) had significantly higher confidence.
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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand