By Tess Bartlett - Rethinking Crime and Punishment

in the policymaking process by voting on specific policy options (put forward by thepublic through the submission of a petition) that might otherwise have goneunnoticed by the government (Karp & Aimer, 2002) 17 . However, CIRs are non­binding, where the government has no obligation to implement policy as a result ofthe outcome. This became a source of frustration for citizens, as the first threereferenda organised in the 1990s had little impact. In particular, Margaret Robertson,the organiser of the third 18 stated: ‘It’s just not good enough when these people(politicians) can sit in Parliament at the taxpayers' expense and ignore [the public’s]wishes’ (Venter, 2001: 1).However, the fourth referendum (and to date, the last under this process), initiated byChristchurch shopkeeper Norm Withers, had a lasting impact on New Zealand penalpolicy. He gained a considerable amount of media attention leading up to the 1999election where he was portrayed as the ‘ordinary man’ who was willing to stand upagainst ‘out of touch’ bureaucrats (Laugeson, 1999: Par. 2). He had been promptedto start a petition (that resulted in the referendum) ‘after his elderly mother [NanWithers] was bashed with an iron bar’ while looking after her son’s shop (Bain,1999: 34). She was purposefully used in the campaign to gain public support forpunitive policies. Her role as ‘the perfect victim’ allowed emotion to be brought intowhat had become a public debate, where the violence of the attack and the innocenceof the defenceless, elderly woman were brought alongside each other. Withers’referendum question that was put to the electorate in the 1999 general election readas follows:Should there be a reform of the criminal justice system placinggreater emphasis on the needs of victims, providing restitution andcompensation for them and imposing minimum sentences and hardlabour for all serious violent offences?(Withers, 2002: Section 1)17Before a referendum can be voted on, organisers are required to get 10 percent of the electorate tosign their petition (Elections New Zealand, 2009), which is at present around 320,000 signatures.18The first CIR addressed the number of professional fire­fighters employed in New Zealand. Thesecond addressed battery farming, but was deemed not valid and never went to vote. The thirdaddressed the number of MPs in New Zealand parliament, and the organiser hoped to reduce thenumber of MPs from 120 to 99 (Karp & Aimer, 2002). The fire­fighter and MP referenda went to voteand despite the outcome (the first received an 87.8 percent negative response to reducing the numberof fire­fighters, while the second received an 81.5 percent affirmative result) had little impact.38