There are many cultural and structural explanations for prison growth in New Zealand such as penal populism, public disenchantment with the current government, public attitudes towards crime and harsher sentences, and lobby groups. There have also been important explanations in the form of neo liberalism, political structures and inequality. I will examine these explanations in my essay. These two perspectives could be combined as there is a lot of overlap between the two ideas and the two rely on one another to exist.
The increase in New Zealands prison growth can be explained by looking at the cultural shift in New Zealand; it can be said that the same set of ideals that made New Zealand a society that was inclusionary also made it exclusionary …show more content…
An increase in flow of information since the changes in the 1980s and the introduction of neo liberalism is associated with free trade and free market ideology. Due to these changes American-style prisons are becoming standard, this can also be seen with the introduction of the three strikes law in New Zealand. Neo liberalism is criminogenic (Cavadino & Dignan, 2006).
During the 1980s unemployment reached the highest level it had been, at 112,000; and inflation, at 18.9 percent (Cavadino & Dignan, 2006). The shift from agriculture to service industries and corporate finance also had a big impact as it resulted in the population relocating to find work. The social costs of "Rogernomics" which was like Thatcherism, in New Zealand are similar to those in the United Kingdom post 1979 (Cavadino & Dignan, …show more content…
Under neo-liberalism the welfare state is marginal, consisting of welfare benefits, which are often stigmatized (Cavadino & Dignan, 2006). In Sweden social policy was motivated by a trade union movement focused on ‘universalism’. The state promotes employment, and the funding of welfare as well as an active labour market programme to lessen the effects of deindustrialization and economic changes. This is very different to America and to New Zealand as in a neo-liberal society, crime is seen as the responsibility of the offending individual (Cavadino & Dignan,
The increase in New Zealands prison growth can be explained by looking at the cultural shift in New Zealand; it can be said that the same set of ideals that made New Zealand a society that was inclusionary also made it exclusionary …show more content…
An increase in flow of information since the changes in the 1980s and the introduction of neo liberalism is associated with free trade and free market ideology. Due to these changes American-style prisons are becoming standard, this can also be seen with the introduction of the three strikes law in New Zealand. Neo liberalism is criminogenic (Cavadino & Dignan, 2006).
During the 1980s unemployment reached the highest level it had been, at 112,000; and inflation, at 18.9 percent (Cavadino & Dignan, 2006). The shift from agriculture to service industries and corporate finance also had a big impact as it resulted in the population relocating to find work. The social costs of "Rogernomics" which was like Thatcherism, in New Zealand are similar to those in the United Kingdom post 1979 (Cavadino & Dignan, …show more content…
Under neo-liberalism the welfare state is marginal, consisting of welfare benefits, which are often stigmatized (Cavadino & Dignan, 2006). In Sweden social policy was motivated by a trade union movement focused on ‘universalism’. The state promotes employment, and the funding of welfare as well as an active labour market programme to lessen the effects of deindustrialization and economic changes. This is very different to America and to New Zealand as in a neo-liberal society, crime is seen as the responsibility of the offending individual (Cavadino & Dignan,