Who gets charged with murder?
The Ministry of Justice has published the latest crime stats. I’ve been looking at the murder stats as that is the worst crime, and also the least affected by police priorities – rapes are under-reported, but murders not really.
Below is the ratios of those charged with murder, to their share of the population. So a number below 1 means they are charged with murder less than their share of the population and above 1 means charged more.
- 55-59: 0.2
- 65+: 0.2
- European: 0.3
- Women: 0.4
- Asian: 0.4
- Under 20 0.7
- 50-54: 1.0
- 40:44: 1.1
- Pacific: 1.2
- 35-39: 1.2
- Men: 1.6
- 45-49: 1.8
- 20-24: 2.0
- 30-34: 2.1
- 25-29: 2.8
- Māori: 3.7
So ethnicity is the most powerful factor, followed by age and then gender. I am surprised that gender is so much less than the others.
UPDATE: A reader has made a chart to show it graphically
