Story: Gangs

Mazengarb report

Mazengarb report

A clerk at a Social Security office hands out copies of the Mazengarb report along with the family benefit in November 1954. The report, sent to every New Zealand home, was sparked by a teenage sex scandal in Lower Hutt. The report was written by the Special Committee on Moral Delinquency in Children and Adolescents, chaired by Dr Oswald Mazengarb. This and later government inquiries into youth delinquency failed to curb the rise of gangs in New Zealand.

Using this item

Alexander Turnbull Library, Evening Post Collection (PAColl-0614)
Reference: PAColl-1551-1055

Permission of the Alexander Turnbull Library, National Library of New Zealand, Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa, must be obtained before any re-use of this image.

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How to cite this page:

Greg Newbold and Rāwiri Taonui, 'Gangs - Gangs and society', Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, http://www.TeAra.govt.nz/en/photograph/28261/mazengarb-report (accessed 29 March 2024)

Story by Greg Newbold and Rāwiri Taonui, published 5 May 2011, reviewed & revised 2 Oct 2018, updated 1 Apr 2020 with assistance from Jarrod Gilbert