Many voters want a clear code setting out what is right and wrong

The day after the Hastings car crash that killed four teenagers, a youth who was a friend of the victims was caught speeding.

Rather than admit it and pay the fine, his mother rang the police and complained that her son was being picked on.

To Chris, a 46-year-old Invercargill manager, the incident showed how we are losing a sense of personal responsibility.

"Everything seems to be everyone else's fault," he said.

"It's a general change in culture really. If someone does something wrong, it's the police's fault. Another example is people who have crashed while being chased by the police turning round and saying it's the police's fault for chasing them."

In this topsy-turvy world, many voters are looking for a clear moral standard. They want a law which defines what is right and wrong and sets out a process by which wrongdoers can accept responsibility for their actions, apologise and make restitution to those they harmed.

Many feel the system has become too soft.

"Sentences are too lenient. Life should mean life," said Howick student Nicola Williams, 21.

"The guy who let his baby burn to death was in jail for three months. It's bullshit. They are not hard enough," echoes Anke Law, also 21, a Christchurch waitress who plans to join the Air Force.

Crime was the sixth-biggest issue in this survey, mentioned by 7 per cent of the 600 people questioned. Their support for tougher sentences is matched by alarm about crime and support for more resources for the police.

Statistically, serious crime is actually declining along with the proportion of young men in the population. Despite recent high-profile murders, our intentional homicide rate is lower than 37 out of 51 countries listed by the United Nations and has trended slightly downwards in the past 10 years.

But as far as ordinary voters are concerned, there still seems to be more crime.

"In St George's Bay Rd, we are going through it at the moment," says Parnell resident Jan Anderson, 63. "All the houses were securely locked but they got in through French doors. They were young kids, they should have been going to school."

Gary and Sherry Young of Te Atatu had a nightmare experience when their neighbour, high on "P", came through their glass door at 4.30am armed with a sword and tried to kill the family in their beds.

The Youngs had spent five years trying to get the police to do something about the man. After the sword incident, officers finally raided his house - three months later. They took 40 minutes to come when the Youngs were threatened.

"They used to say we should move," Mr Young said. "Why should we? We had been there 20 years.

"What political party is going to deal with that?" he asked. "None of them. They turn it all on you."