By Tess Bartlett - Rethinking Crime and Punishment

increasingly aware of crime, gaining more access to crime news and crime­basedprogrammes as the mass media turned to tabloid style journalism. This increase incrime visibility, combined with the unstable social setting, meant that crimeproblems became political issues. After a series of failed attempts by politicians tocurb crime, members of the public began to speak out and form pressure groupsaddressing criminal justice issues. What could be seen, then, was a shift in societyaway from the secure and stable environment that existed in the post­war era to aperiod of immense instability, ensuring that New Zealand became a very fertileground for the growth of penal populism.Penal Welfare and Post­war ProsperityThis section will discuss the different attributes that contributed to New Zealand’sstability during the post­war years as these provide a stark contrast to the unstableperiod that followed which allowed penal populism to flourish.During the 1950s, New Zealand benefited from a period of high economic growth.This was fostered by the demand for agricultural exports, such as wool, whichmaintained a dominant position in the international trading market due to its use instrong supplies such as blankets and carpets (Belich, 2001). During these years,citizens were able to benefit from a nationwide equality, with citizens and visitorsalike boasting of this. As one commentator remarked:[An] outstanding social characteristic of New Zealanders … is thefeeling that they are all equal … New Zealand is the first countrywith western traditions actually to have made the experiment of anapproach to economic equality.(Sutch, 1956: 5­6)This equality created an environment where the range of income between the highestpaid jobs and the lowest was minimal (Department of Labour, 1951). At the sametime, New Zealand enjoyed one of the highest per capita incomes in the world(Douglas, 1987). Not only were incomes and pay distribution based on equality,allowing most citizens to prosper, these years were also characterised by fullemployment for men (at least). The National Employment Service (1947: 21­22)noted in an Annual Report for 1947 the following:21