Criminal conviction and sentencing statistics released by Statistics New Zealand show that adults of Māori ethnicity comprised 44% of adults convicted of an offence in 2017, but made up 58% of adults who were sentenced to imprisonment.
The statistics for adults convicted by sentence type show that that the proportion of those with Māori ethnicity who are sentenced to imprisonment has increased over the last three years, from 56.7% in 2015 to 58.2% in 2017.
Adults of European ethnicity made up 40% of those convicted of an offence in 2017 and 31% of those sentenced to imprisonment. Adults of Pacific ethnicity were 10% of those convicted in 2017 and 8% of those sentenced to imprisonment, while adults of other ethnicity made up 5% of those convicted and 4% of those sentenced to imprisonment.
The latest Statistics New Zealand data appears to show that around 73% of the population identify as European or Other ethnicity, 16% as Māori, 15% as Asian and 8% as Pacific (with people often identifying with more than one ethnicity).
Adult Māori women comprised 55% of adult women convicted in 2017, but made up 67% of women sentenced to imprisonment - the highest proportion of all.
Adults convicted in court by sentence type (most serious offence), 2017 calendar year*
| Sentence | European | Māori | Pacific | Other | Total |
| Convicted | 23450 | 26794 | 5881 | 2724 | 58849 |
| Imprisonment | 2550 | 4822 | 620 | 289 | 8281 |
| Community | 10382 | 12618 | 2618 | 939 | 26557 |
| Monetary | 8130 | 6295 | 1833 | 1247 | 17505 |
| Other | 1378 | 1608 | 390 | 151 | 3527 |
| None recorded | 1030 | 1451 | 420 | 98 | 2999 |
| Sentence | European | Māori | Pacific | Other | Total |
| Convicted | 39.8% | 45.5% | 10.0% | 4.6% | 100.0% |
| Imprisonment | 30.8% | 58.2% | 7.5% | 3.5% | 100.0% |
| Community | 39.1% | 47.5% | 9.9% | 3.5% | 100.0% |
| Monetary | 46.4% | 36.0% | 10.5% | 7.1% | 100.0% |
| Other | 39.1% | 45.6% | 11.1% | 4.3% | 100.0% |
| None recorded | 34.3% | 48.4% | 14.0% | 3.3% | 100.0% |
*Excludes 5551 persons of unknown ethnicity.
Women convicted in court by sentence type (most serious offence), 2017 calendar year*
| Sentence | European | Māori | Pacific | Other | Total |
| Convicted | 4513 | 6816 | 872 | 265 | 12466 |
| Imprisonment | 225 | 546 | 21 | 19 | 811 |
| Community | 2080 | 3288 | 339 | 84 | 5791 |
| Monetary | 1682 | 2050 | 373 | 135 | 4240 |
| Other | 313 | 502 | 63 | 16 | 894 |
| None recorded | 233 | 430 | 76 | 11 | 750 |
| Sentence | European | Māori | Pacific | Other | Total |
| Convicted | 36.2% | 54.7% | 7.0% | 2.1% | 100.0% |
| Imprisonment | 27.7% | 67.3% | 2.6% | 2.3% | 100.0% |
| Community | 35.9% | 56.8% | 5.9% | 1.5% | 100.0% |
| Monetary | 39.7% | 48.3% | 8.8% | 3.2% | 100.0% |
| Other | 35.0% | 56.2% | 7.0% | 1.8% | 100.0% |
| None recorded | 31.1% | 57.3% | 10.1% | 1.5% | 100.0% |
Men convicted in court by sentence type (most serious offence), 2017 calendar year*
| Sentence | European | Māori | Pacific | Other | Total |
| Convicted | 18937 | 19978 | 5009 | 2459 | 46383 |
| Imprisonment | 2325 | 4276 | 599 | 270 | 7470 |
| Community | 8302 | 9330 | 2279 | 855 | 20766 |
| Monetary | 6448 | 4245 | 1460 | 1112 | 13265 |
| Other | 1065 | 1106 | 327 | 135 | 2633 |
| None recorded | 797 | 1027 | 344 | 87 | 2249 |
| Sentence | European | Māori | Pacific | Other | Total |
| Convicted | 40.8% | 43.1% | 10.8% | 5.3% | 100.0% |
| Imprisonment | 31.1% | 57.2% | 8.0% | 3.6% | 100.0% |
| Community | 40.0% | 44.9% | 11.0% | 4.1% | 100.0% |
| Monetary | 48.6% | 32.0% | 11.0% | 8.4% | 100.0% |
| Other | 40.4% | 42.0% | 12.4% | 5.1% | 100.0% |
| None recorded | 35.4% | 45.7% | 15.3% | 3.9% | 100.0% |