New Zealand needs a new gang strategy – political consensus would be a good start Professors Alexander Gillespie and Claire Breen of the University of Waikato write that organised criminal gangs are an intergenerational challenge that should be approached as a bipartisan issue. The concern about gangs and gang-related violence in New Zealand continues to be highly politicised. Government ministers are under constant media scrutiny and political pressure, with both sides trying to look more staunch on crime than the other. The problem is that these debates often lack history, context or vision.
Every generation panics intermittently about crime, especially when it concerns gangs and youth. One of the earliest New Zealand examples was in 1842 and 1843 when more than 100 male juveniles were transported from Parkhurst Prison. The arrival of these former delinquents and a perceived rise in crime caused concern. Although a plea by the head of police for a prohibition on further deportations was accepted, the country realised it had a problem.
The following years saw the introduction of new legislation, such as that designed to deal with “vagabonds and rogues” (including the particularly troublesome “incorrigible” ones). This overlapped with generic laws designed to protect public order and keep criminals locked up. Crime did not stop, but it did evolve. It was recognised as “organised” in the 1920s, well before the first postWWII counterculture emerged. But the country was so shocked by youth behaviour in the 1950s that a dedicated committee on “Moral Delinquency in Children and Adolescents” was established. Its findings on the sexual morality of teenagers were posted to every home in the land. It was not a huge success. By the late 1950s there were around 41 “milkbar cowboy” gangs in Auckland and 17 in Wellington. By the early 1960s, more enduring brands like the Mongrel Mob and a New Zealand chapter of the Hells Angels were beginning to put down roots. Six decades of a growing challenge Since then, politicians have swung left and right, wielding sticks and then carrots to deal with the issue. As we examine in our recent book, People, Power, and Law: a New Zealand History, government responses have moved from involving
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NZSM
August /September 2022
