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Story: Censorship

Corrupting comics, 1957

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Corrupting comics, 1957

Jack Marshall, minister of justice and attorney general, poses with a display of comics in 1957. Throughout the 1950s there was concern that comics were corrupting the youth by encouraging violence and anti-social behaviour. Following the Mazengarb report of 1954, the results of an investigation into juvenile delinquency, the censorship laws were changed to restrict the import of many comics into New Zealand.

Using this item

Alexander Turnbull Library, Dominion Post Collection (PA-Group-00685)

Reference: EP/1957/2948-F

Sound file from Radio New Zealand Sound Archives Nga Taonga Korero. Any re-use of this audio is a breach of copyright. To request a copy of the recording, contact Sound Archives Nga Taonga Korero (ZB Citizen's Forum/ Reference number ID 32391)

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

Peter Clayworth, Censorship – Censorship and a changing society, 1930s to 2010s, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/photograph/43908/corrupting-comics-1957 (accessed 4 June 2026).

Story by Peter Clayworth, published 6 January 2014.