Institutional racism occurs when social institutions treat people of a certain ethnicity negatively, which actually leads to inequality. The UN (2015) states that only 15% of New Zealand's population is Māori, yet Māori make up over 50% of the prison population. Racism in the justice system results in people being prosecuted based on the color of their skin. Māori-related criminal behavior leads to marginalization, alienation and racism in other forms of society. I will discuss the situation of Māori in New Zealand prisons and then the effect this has on the Māori community as well as the implications this has on wider society. New Zealand has the second highest imprisonment rate in the Western world (101 East, 2013). . With Māori overrepresented in all areas of the criminal justice system. The institutional racism present in the justice system is linked to the isolation and disconnection many Māori will feel in New Zealand society. Quince (2014) states that "nearly 200 years of dispossession and alienation resulting from the process of colonization which has undermined Māori epistemologies and ways of dealing with harm within the community" are what cause Māori to fall into this cycle of crime. Where there is no connection in modern New Zealand society to the systematic prejudice of Māori, inequalities will persist until something is done. However, since colonization, Māori have not been accepted, and that is wrong. Institutionalized racism has no benefit in the justice system because more money is spent, more crime occurs and this negatively affects the Māori population. All this does is unfairly advantage Pakeha and normally to the detriment of minorities, as