Three-year-old Brittany Crothall was murdered in 1997 by a teen boarding at her home while he completed his studies in Christchurch. (Video first published in January 2016)

The mother of a murdered three-year-old girl said she could not hold back the tears after hearing about a Māori woman saying Europeans could not know what it was like to be victims of crime at the Government's criminal justice summit.

In 1997 Luke Frederick Sibley - then 18 - suffocated and strangled Brittany Crothall, 3, while she slept at her home in New Brighton, Christchurch.

He then entered the bedroom of the toddler's mother, Jayne Crothall, and attacked her with a hammer and a knife.

STUFF Jayne Crothall's daughter Brittany was killed 19 years ago, by a teenager that was boarding with her. She said she was reduced to tears after hearing Europeans could not be victims at this week's criminal justice summit. (File photo).

Crothall said Brittany, who was part Māori, would have turned 25 on Wednesday making the underlying prejudice all the more painful to hear.

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She said another victim - whose sister was murdered - was told she was "white and privileged" - both messages leaving Crothall in tears and her blood boiling on day one of the summit in Porirua on Tuesday.

Mother of murdered 3-year-old Jayne Crothall voices her concerns on Facebook about the Government's criminal justice summit.

"This is a horrendous summit for victims - we've been re-victimised. There's been a lot of racist comments," she told the 500-odd gathered experts, academics and advocates, victims, ex-prisoners and frontline justice workers.

Crothall said the long-term overhaul of the criminal justice system - the aim of the summit - was obviously a complex task but there was too much blame, a lot of excuses and too many voices of academics and experts rather than victims.

The summit began in earnest in Porirua on Tuesday with questions over whether Māori were being fairly represented given their high prison numbers.

STUFF Brittany Crothall was murdered at the age of 3.

It has also met with scepticism from justice system insiders as well as National Party leader Simon Bridges who said it would be nothing more than a talkfest.

When asked whether he credited Crothall's suggestion the summit was racist towards Europeans, Justice Minister Andrew Little said he didn't think it was racist.

Little said he had heard Crothall's concerns and said the Government knew the country had a criminal justice system where Māori made up 51 per cent of the prison population.

MATT STEWART/STUFF Live scribing reflects some of the concepts being discussed at the criminal justice summit.

Little said that was a challenge that needed to be taken seriously and dealt with.

Last month, a 10-person advisory group, led by former National MP and courts minister Chester Borrows was asked to carry out the coalition Government's vision of fixing New Zealand's "broken" criminal justice system.

ROBERT KITCHIN/STUFF Minister of Justice Andrew Little has convened a justice summit of up to 700 policy and advocacy experts in the hopes of finding a solution to New Zealand's burgeoning prison population.

Last week, Justice advocate Roger Brooking expressed doubt the "well-intentioned" summit would achieve lasting reform.

"The real crisis in the justice system is in the rapid rise in the prison population. Mr Little said he wants to reduce the prison population by 30 per cent over the next 15 years. Frankly, that's a ridiculous aspiration without National Party collaboration," Brooking said.

Official figures showed that as of March this year, the prison population had leapt from 8500 to 10,800 in six years - meaning there were over 2000 more inmates than in 2011.