The analyses by Hook in the two target articles published in this issue on the effects of legislation on recorded rates of crime for Māori and Pacific Islanders (Hook, 2009a, 2009b) give rise to a number of questions and themes that this peer commentary will examine. In particular, this commentary will explore some of the practices such as policing that may influence the social construction of crime figures in relation to Māori and Pacific peoples, and some of the limitations to building critical analyses from official crime statistics.