Professor Tracey McIntosh (Ngāi Tūhoe) is a sociologist and at the time of the hearing was a Professor of Indigenous Studies and Co-Director of Wānaga o Waipapa at the University of Auckland. She was previously the Co-Director of Ngā Pae o te Māramatanga (NPM), New Zealand’s Māori Centre of Research Excellence hosted by the University of Auckland. She was recently a member of the Welfare Expert Advisory Group and Te Uepū Hāpai i te Ora - The Safe and Effective Justice Advisory Group. At the time of the hearing she was the Co-Chair of the Cannabis Expert Panel. Professor McIntosh’s personal research programme focussed on crime and marginalisation, social harm reduction, Māori and incarceration, State institutions and Māori, Māori women and incarceration; gang associated whanau, indigenous peoples and the criminal justice system and family violence prevention.  

Professor McIntosh drew on her areas of research and writing alongside extensive work within the criminal justice community, which includes working with prisoners, whānau of prisoners, gang members, and gang associated whānau in order to contextualise the role of  State care, and abuse in care in respect of the lives of the marginalised, relating to: male and female prisoners, Māori hyper-incarceration and gangs, as well as discussing criminal justice impacts in respect of those affected and on society in as a whole in Aotearoa New Zealand.