Paper examining disproportionate rates of criminal offending among Māori. According to Jensen, Māori, who sit ‘between two worlds’, are more likely to offend. “Socioeconomic factors” discussed include how a large proportion of the Māori population correspond in socioeconomic status to a smaller proportion of the non-Māori population. In 1930 Māori offending was slightly lower than non-Māori offending but by 1940 the Māori offending rate had grown to 1.5x the non-Māori rate. Between 1953-55 and 1963-65 the non-Māori offending rate rose by only 5% in comparison with the Māori offending rate that rose by 59%. Possible statistical inaccuracies around definitions of race and offending cannot explain the disparity. Higher Māori conviction rates might be a factor but not ‘large enough to account for more than a fraction of the difference’. Another possible factor noted is the overall younger age of the Māori population. However, the difference in population age structure alone would give a Māori offending rate about 30% higher than the non-Māori when in reality it is almost 400% greater. The “cultural factors” said to be at the root of the high incidence of crime amongst Māori emphasise the differences in Māori and non-Māori understandings of private property and gives importance to the ‘breaking down of Maori culture’...‘especially of traditional sanctions, tapu, and the authority of the elders’.