Dr Femi Abikanlu1
1New Zealand Police, 180 Molesworth Street, Thorndon, Wellington 6011, New Zealand
The conventional approaches to the evaluation of interventions and policies are often defined by factors such as the benefits of regulatory policies and interventions, relationships between resource allocation and performance, and other priorities of programme sponsors. In the context of indigenous-focused interventions, particularly in crime prevention programmes, such an approach often assumes that ‘all offenders are equal’ and does not usually consider unquantifiable factors such as the worldviews, priorities, and values of indigenous people. In the evaluation of indigenous-focused intervention programmes and policies, particularly in crime prevention and control, the article presents the fundamental limitations of this conventional approach and argues for a consideration of the unquantifiable factors that often necessitate the disproportionate volume of crimes and crime harm among indigenous offenders and other disadvantaged groups. Based on lessons learnt from the evaluation of Te Pae Oranga programme (2021), a police-led intervention programme incorporated with Tikanga Māori in New Zealand, the study presents conceptual considerations for indigenous-focused interventions and proposes an approach for evaluating the effectiveness of interventions. From the lens of this conceptual consideration of indigenous-focused interventions, the study also proposes a methodological approach for scaling equity of referrals and the use of the Crime Harm Index (CHI) for indigenous-focused intervention policies and programmes. Broadly, the study contributes to the methodological approach to evidence-based interventions and policies targeted at indigenous offenders and other disadvantaged groups.
Biography:
Femi Abikanlu is an early career researcher and affiliated with the Evidence-Based Policing Centre. Femi obtained a doctorate in Media and Communications Studies from the University of Canterbury, focusing on a comparative assessment of the Global Digital Migration Programme in New Zealand and the Sub-Saharan Africa. His research interests focus on Evidence-based Policing; Effects of Social Interventions and Policies; Research Methodologies for Indigenous-focused Evaluations; and Effect of Digital Disruptions on Regulatory Policies and Governance. Currently, Femi holds a Research and Evaluation Advisory position with the Evidence-Based Policing Centre of the New Zealand Police (National Headquarters Office), Wellington.
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8775-6841