stories (second behind sport), 55 percent of these stories were on violent crime, 25percent were regarding nonviolent crime <strong>and</strong> 20 percent were stories on prisons(Atkinson, 2002). Similarly, a study by McGregor (2002) found that on two days inone week the New Zeal<strong>and</strong> Herald (the largest circulation daily newspaper) carried55.6 percent <strong>and</strong> 46.9 percent crime news.Lack of trust in the democratic processDuring the 1990s, despite the overall decline in crime that was beginning to takeplace, the increased visibility of crime, particularly serious crime, meant politiciansbegan implementing piecemeal legislation to show they were listening to theconcerned public. In 1992, the Criminal Justice Law Reform Bill was proposed (butwas consequently not enacted) by the National government to provide the publicwith better protection ‘particularly from violent crime’ (New Zeal<strong>and</strong> Parliament,1992: Intro). It was proposed amidst concern over a series of violent killings that hadtaken place, such as the mass killing of thirteen people by David Gray ("Tragedy atAramoana," 1990) 16 . At this time, a Report of the Ministerial Committee of Inquiryinto Violence was also undertaken to address violent crime <strong>and</strong> the report noted that‘[t]he public, through the submissions made to this Committee, has expressed itsconcern at the increase in violence <strong>and</strong> has called on it to find solutions’ (quoted inNew Zeal<strong>and</strong> Parliament, 1993a: Par. 1). The National Party also made adjustmentsto parole, which meant courts were now able to impose ‘nonparole periods forserious violent offenders’ (New Zeal<strong>and</strong> National Party, 1993: 12). These legislativechanges, driven by expediency, marked the beginnings of the influence of publicsentiments on legislation.Another significant event that changed the role of the public in the political arenaconcerned the electoral process in New Zeal<strong>and</strong>. This occurred in 1985 when theRoyal Commission on the Electoral System (hereafter referred to as the RoyalCommission) was established amid concern ‘that it was time a farreaching <strong>and</strong>searching examination of [New Zeal<strong>and</strong>’s] electoral system was undertaken’ (TheRoyal Commission on the Electoral System, 1986: 1). It was felt by some membersof the Labour government that the egalitarianism <strong>and</strong> fairness that had been a16This event occurred in Aramoana on 13 November 1990 when David Gray shot dead thirteenresidents before being found <strong>and</strong> shot dead by police the following day ("Hours of terror end," 1990).36
dominant feature of New Zeal<strong>and</strong> society during the postwar years should be morereflected in the democratic process. The Royal Commission was required to considerchanges to the electoral system as well as ‘other parliamentary <strong>and</strong> politicalarrangements’ (The Royal Commission on the Electoral System, 1986: 1) <strong>and</strong>, in1986, received submissions from the public, many of which concerned the First Pastthe Post (FPP) electoral system that was in place at this time (The RoyalCommission on the Electoral System, 1985). Members of the public held concernsabout the seemingly unfair system whereby a political party, which had received themost electorate seats but not necessarily the majority of the votes, could come topower. After the submissions were received <strong>and</strong> analysed, the Royal Commissionrecommended the adoption of a Mixed Member Proportional (MMP) system. TheCommission also recommended that changes take place only after a lengthy publicdebate <strong>and</strong> only with ‘the approval of a majority of votes at a referendum’ (TheRoyal Commission on the Electoral System, 1986: 65). The referendum had thusbecome in itself, a major part of the electoral reform process.After eight years of political debate surrounding MMP, due in part to the mainpolitical parties opposing the idea of electoral reform, the public made the finaldecision in 1993 by way of a Citizens Initiated Referendum (CIR). Here, 54 percentof voters selected a transition to MMP. In the MMP system each voter has two votes;one for a party <strong>and</strong> one for a constituency MP. It is the party vote that determines theorganisation of parliament (Palmer, 2006b). This system was thought to offer awider range of representatives to parliament <strong>and</strong> would, therefore, offer a moreaccurate representation of society. <strong>By</strong> this time, however, insecurities that had arisenduring the 1980s meant citizens were hoping electoral reform would bring aboutgreater political accountability <strong>and</strong> responsibility, rather than simply reflectNew Zeal<strong>and</strong>’s fairness <strong>and</strong> egalitarianism which lay behind the initial motives(Vowles, Aimer, Catt, Lamare, & Miller, 1995). In effect, the use of the CIR <strong>and</strong> thechange to MMP was a way of showing citizens that local MPs would now have to bemore attentive to their wishes.For those citizens who felt disillusioned by government, the introduction of theCitizens Initiated Referendum Act 1993 provided them with the opportunity to havea more direct influence on government. It gave citizens the opportunity to participate37
- Page 3 and 4: AcknowledgementsWriting this thesis
- Page 5 and 6: ContentsAbstract ..................
- Page 7 and 8: IntroductionIn September 2007, New
- Page 9 and 10: Thereafter, the Labourled coaliti
- Page 11 and 12: Postwar Security and Penalwelfa
- Page 13 and 14: the exterior of electoral politics,
- Page 15 and 16: social conditions, towards that whi
- Page 17 and 18: penal policy development where they
- Page 19 and 20: implementation of this legislation.
- Page 21 and 22: increasingly aware of crime, gainin
- Page 23 and 24: immigration was considered a threat
- Page 25 and 26: in agricultural exports, particular
- Page 27 and 28: The time would seem to be appropria
- Page 29 and 30: In keeping crime out of the public
- Page 31 and 32: The Labour Party’s response to th
- Page 33 and 34: across a multitude of family househ
- Page 35: Changes in New Zealand mediaThe dif
- Page 39 and 40: Despite its manifest contradictions
- Page 41 and 42: Governments and their civil servant
- Page 43 and 44: The Victims Task Force believed tha
- Page 45 and 46: eferendum into legislation, motivat
- Page 47 and 48: [New Zealand was] one of the safest
- Page 49 and 50: governments in the hope that ‘suc
- Page 51 and 52: McVicar paints of himself as the
- Page 53 and 54: that New Zealanders have been expos
- Page 55 and 56: This combination of circumstances c
- Page 57 and 58: Sympathy, empathy, commiseration an
- Page 59 and 60: [h]ad not risen from the ‘victims
- Page 61 and 62: illicit a response from the communi
- Page 63 and 64: Reform Bill). The Trust made submis
- Page 65 and 66: The willingness by Opposition MPs t
- Page 67 and 68: I remind [the National Party] that
- Page 69 and 70: However, the Labourled government
- Page 71 and 72: 6). While these opposing parties po
- Page 73 and 74: One development in particular incre
- Page 75 and 76: policymaking 32 . From 2000 to 2006
- Page 77 and 78: had removed suspended sentences as
- Page 79 and 80: Chapter Four:Resistance to Penal Po
- Page 81 and 82: 2004: 44). The situation worsened i
- Page 83 and 84: were designed to address New Zealan
- Page 85 and 86: $3.341 million annually from 2009/2
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organisation, was interested in bur
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Because of the capability of the me
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The case of Graeme BurtonThe second
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‘parole should be a privilege, no
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given the difficulties in measureme
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package to prioritise this issue. H
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emained insecure and overtly puniti
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the end of its tenure. As a result,
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The thesis has explained and analys
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main determinants are addressed. As
- Page 107 and 108:
Atkinson, J. (2002). Structures of
- Page 109 and 110:
Bureau of Justice Statistics (2008b
- Page 111 and 112:
Cullen, P., & Lloyd, C. (1991). Lob
- Page 113 and 114:
Department of Statistics (N.Z) (199
- Page 115 and 116:
Hall, G., & O'Driscoll, S. (2002).
- Page 117 and 118:
Johnson, R. J., & Ogloff, J. R. P.
- Page 119 and 120:
Maguire, M. (2002). Crime data and
- Page 121 and 122:
Ministry of Justice (2002a). Senten
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New Zealand Parliament (1993a). Cri
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asket.co.nz.helicon.vuw.ac.nz/searc
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O'Conner, D. (2006). Effective Inte
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Prisoners in line for waist restrai
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Sentencing Amendment Act. (2007). R
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http://www.stats.govt.nz/products
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contours of New Zealand (pp. 1111