The Safe and Effective Justice Programme Advisory Group is hearing from communities in Te Tairāwhiti, which panel member Julia Whaipooti says is one of the regions most affected by the criminal justice system.

Offenders are getting up to two years off their prison sentences for factors like an abusive childhood but a decision to cut funding for 'section 27' cultural background reports has led to criticism. Harrison Christian reports.

Rocklin Cuthbert's raids on Bunnings Warehouse stores were meticulously planned. He knew how to disable security cameras. He crawled in all the right places to evade alarm sensors. His burglaries cost the hardware chain more than $300,000.

It turned out that his father, a Black Power member, taught him how to carry out burglaries when he was 10 years old.

What influence did Cuthbert's background have on his behaviour? And should he serve less time in jail because of that background? A judge decided that yes, he should.

READ MORE:

* Burglar's 'extensively planned' raid costs Bunnings Warehouse more than $300,000

* Bank robber who threatened to burn a teller's face with acid successfully appeals sentence

* Cultural report sheds light on burglary spree, sees sentence reduced

* Counsellors urge Ministry to find funding for cultural reports for offenders

Details of Cuthbert's "Once Were Warriors-like" past came to light in what's known as a section 27 cultural background report (section 27 of the Sentencing Act), which led a judge to take nine months off his jail sentence.

David White/Stuff Stevie Cullen received a two-year discount on his jail time for cultural background factors. He was involved in importing 500kg of meth to Ninety Mile Beach.

The Ministry of Justice cut funding for the reports in June 2018 after it became aware some judges were requesting the documents as a matter of course.

Offenders can get a report through private funding or request an extension in legal aid.

In October, Auckland burglar Peter Heta had his prison sentence reduced by a year after a S 27 report showed his childhood was marred with abuse and abandonment.

Judge Gerard Winter found a disconnect with his Māori heritage, as well as a life of poverty and sexual abuse, had driven Heta towards serious drugs as a coping mechanism.

He said cultural reports allowed the court to form a thorough understanding of the offender's background and provide sociological reasons behind their offending.

In another case, in August, Stevie Cullen was jailed for his part in importing 500kg methamphetamine to Ninety Mile Beach, which resulted in the country's biggest meth bust.

Justice Christine Gordon QC said Cullen's cultural background report showed he had "not been particularly disadvantaged" in life.

ROSA WOODS/STUFF Justice reformer Julia Whaipooti says the reports are an important tool.

"In many ways, you have lived quite a privileged life but one factor that is common with just about any other person in prison: you are Māori," Gordon said.

"You were disheartened by your inability to secure finances for what you wanted to do. You thought it was because of the colour of your skin; you thought your white friends did not have the same disadvantage.

"[It was] not simply about making fast money through the drugs trade, it was about disadvantage brought about by culture."

She gave Cullen a "modest discount" of two years for cultural factors and a further discount of a year for his time on electronically monitored bail, bringing his sentence down to 27 years in prison.

Julia Whaipooti, a member of the Government-appointed Te Uepū pai i te Ora - Safe and Effective Justice Advisory Group, said the reports were important tools that were under-utilised and came too late in the justice process.

She wanted to see ministry funding reinstated and the role of the reports expanded so they were called for when offenders first came into contact with police or the court.

"It's understanding what's in the whakapapa of a person's life and why they're choosing to do what they're doing. Imagine if we had that in the beginning – we could address reasons behind their offending to stop their offending."

It was clear that a person's upbringing had a strong bearing on whether they would go on to commit crimes, she said.

ROBERT KITCHIN/STUFF Justice Minister Andrew Little says the Ministry doesn't believe there's a "clear case" to reinstate funding for cultural background reports.

"The majority of people who end up incarcerated in prisons have experienced extreme family violence and/or sexual violence in their life and often not just one-off."

Counsellors Association spokeswoman Gay Puketapu-Andrews said the reports acknowledged the links between criminal offending and the generational shame and trauma of colonisation.

Pākehā settlers imposed a Western justice system onto Māori that continued to perpetuate racial inequity in New Zealand, she said.

"An accumulation of things can result in a person who doesn't know who they are and doesn't have the sense of connection to the world that would potentially sustain them, and they find themselves on a road to destruction."

Puketapu-Andrews said because of their holistic approach to offenders, the reports "might go a small way towards redressing an inequity".

Minister of Justice Andrew Little said the ministry advised him in 2018 that without more data on how cultural information was most effectively used, it didn't think there was a "clear case" to reinstate funding for the reports.

There was already some provision for an offender's background to be taken into consideration, Little said.

Under current legislation, sentencing judges are required to consider the offender's personal, whānau, community and cultural background.

Under section 26 of the Act, sentencing judges can also receive a pre-sentence report prepared by Probation Services at the Department of Corrections.

"The Ministry of Justice is currently exploring how these pre-sentence reports can be enhanced."