Penal Policy in New Zealand*
| Author | J. L. Robson |
| Published date | 01 December 1971 |
| Date | 01 December 1971 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/000486587100400402 |
| Subject Matter | Original Articles |
AUST. &N.Z. JOURNAL OF CRIMINOLOGY (Dec., 1971): 4, 4
Penal
Policy
In
New
Zealand*
J. L. ROBSON**
195
I DO
not
want
to
present
the
picture
of
an
elderly fellow raking!
through
the
embers of his
administrative
experience,
but
there
are
some
things
in
my
experience which
may
be of
interest
to
those
who
are
trying
to
find
answers
to problems
they
encounter
in
their
day's
march.
But
let
me
make
plain
that
I would
not
presume
to advise those who
are
at
or
near
the
top.
Per-
haps
I
may
presume
to be of help to
those
who
are
in
the
valleys
and
the
foothills.
The
Nineteen
Fifties
The
mood of a decade
matters
when
we
think
of reform. New Zealand
in
the
nineteen
fifties was preoccupied
with
economic questions.
For
one
thing,
she was still recovering from
the
dislocation caused by
the
policies
and
conditions of wartime. People who
had
served
in
the
Armed Forces
were still in
the
process of establishing or consolidating
their
position
in
civilian life.
It
went
beyond aquestion of livelihood to Include preoccupation
with
the
question of bringing up families.
There
was
impatience
with
those who did
not
conform
and
a
prefer-
ence for simple,
direct
remedies.
Capital
punishment
for
murder
was
re-
stored
in 1950
and
eight
persons were executed
during
the
fifties
without
tears
being
shed
by
many
people. Whenever juvenile delinquency
reared
its
ugly head, as
it
did in 1954, a
strong
Puritan
note
was
struck,
coupled
with
talk
about
bringing
back
the
birch
for use on
the
young.
With
society in no mood to
suffer
nonsense
and
much
preferring
the
ways of orthodoxy,
the
penal
administrator
wanting
to
introduce
change
could expect a
rough
passage.
Mr. S. T.
Barnett
was-
the
Permanent
Head of
the
Justice
Department
from
1949
until
1960.
During
this
period
he
served
three
different
ministers.
His
first
Minister was
the
Hon. H. G. R. Mason,
but
the
association was for
a few weeks only, as Mr. Mason lost
his
portfolio
when
Labour was
defeated
in
the
general election towards
the
end
of 1949.
The
next
Minister was
the
Hon. Clifton Webb
and
he
made
plain
at
an
early
stage
that
he did
not
support
the
emphasis
that
Barnett
wanted
to place upon a
reformative
policy.
The
Hon. J. R. Marshall became Minister towards
the
enid of 1954.
Although Mr.
Marshall
was keener on a reformative programme, he did
not
make
any
major
change.
For
one
thing,
he was a young Minister
*Read
at
6th National Conference of the Australian Crime Prevention, Correction
and After-care Council, Brisbane, August, 1971.
** Ph.D., until recently Secretary for Justice, New Zealand. Visiting Fellow and Director
of Criminological Studies at Victoria University of Wellington.
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