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    Physical growth and ethnic inequality in New Zealand prisons, 1840–1975

    Access Status
    Fulltext not available
    Authors
    Inwood, K.
    Oxley, Leslie
    Roberts, E.
    Date
    2015
    Type
    Journal Article
    
    Metadata
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    Citation
    Inwood, K. and Oxley, L. and Roberts, E. 2015. Physical growth and ethnic inequality in New Zealand prisons, 1840–1975. History of the Family. 20 (2): pp. 249-269.
    Source Title
    History of the Family
    DOI
    10.1080/1081602X.2015.1006653
    ISSN
    1081-602X
    School
    School of Economics and Finance
    URI
    http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/29121
    Collection
    • Curtin Research Publications
    Abstract

    © 2015 Taylor & Francis. The British colonization of New Zealand after 1840 was marked by an unusual concern compared to other settler colonies to incorporate the indigenous Maori population into the new society. But despite a continuing political rhetoric of protection and sovereignty, Maori have historically had lower living standards and, since the 1920s, higher rates of incarceration than European-descended New Zealanders (Pakeha). In this article, the authors examine differences between Maori and Pakeha over 130 years using prison records. Aggregate data from the Ministry of Justice shows long-term change and differences in incarceration rates. Using a data set of all extant registers of men entering New Zealand prisons, the authors show change over time in convictions and in height. The adult statures of Maori and Pakeha were similar for men born before 1900, but marked differences emerged among cohorts born during the twentieth century. By the Second World War, the gap in adult stature widened to around 3 cm, before narrowing for men born after the Second World War. Periods of divergence in stature are paralleled by divergence in fertility and indicators of family size, suggesting the possibility that increasing fertility stressed the economic situation of Maori families. The prison evidence suggests that inequalities in ‘net nutrition’ between Maori and Pakeha are long-standing but not unchanging – indeed, they increased for cohorts born in the early twentieth century. A subset of the data describing adolescents confirms that, among those born after 1945, the ethnic differential was already visible by the age of 16.

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