By Tess Bartlett - Rethinking Crime and Punishment

Chapter One:The Rise of Penal Populism in New ZealandFrom the early post­war years, New Zealand society, like other Anglophonesocieties, underwent a series of changes that brought about a shift from security andsocial cohesion as its dominant features to one of instability and social change. Thepurpose of this chapter is to examine the social, political and economic features ofNew Zealand society to determine how New Zealand became a society where penalpopulism was able to flourish.From 1945 to the late 1970s, citizens were able to rely on the role of the state forsecurity. Furthermore, the homogeneity of the population had created a strong senseof social cohesion, which further enhanced New Zealand’s tranquil environment.These factors meant that while crime was on the rise, crime and punishment were notregarded as significant social issues. In 1954 and 1982, two pivotal and influentialdocuments emerged in New Zealand: ‘A Penal Policy for New Zealand’(Department of Justice, 1954) and the ‘Report of the Penal Policy ReviewCommittee’ (Penal Policy Review Committee, 1981b). Both documents focused onthe need to reduce the prison population. Furthermore, policymakers refrained fromrecommending punitive policies to bring about this reduction, with no referencemade to public opinion – features that distinguish them from penal policy at the endof the twentieth century.However, from the early 1980s through to the present, New Zealand society hasexperienced a decline in security due to a number of factors. Labour governments inthe 1980s began to restructure the economy, making changes to taxation, whichbroadened inequalities and left citizens feeling distrustful of government and existingpolitical processes. Citizens were no longer able to enjoy full employment, asemployment patterns across the country began to shift. In addition, the increasinglyheterogeneous nature of society, particularly the increase in Asian immigration, aswell as the changing nature of the family, represented a loosening of social bondswhere social cohesion no longer seemed to prevail. Citizens also became20