ACT's Crime & Justice Policy
ACT supports three strikes sentencing, keeping serious criminals in prison longer, opposing early parole, enforcing gang patch bans, increasing the number of police, and focusing criminal justice on punishment and victim rights rather than offender rehabilitation.
In simple terms
Keep serious criminals in jail longer, ban gang patches, hire more police, and prioritise victims' rights over offender rehabilitation.
Impact to New Zealanders
Police budgets grow, but courts become backlogged as more cases demand hearing time, delaying justice for victims of all crimes.
Prisons overflow despite longer sentences; early releases of lower-risk inmates increase to manage crowding, undermining the intended deterrent effect.
Generational poverty deepens in communities where incarceration rates spike; fewer working-age adults support families, increasing welfare costs and reducing local economic opportunity.
Green Party's Crime & Justice Policy
The Green Party supports a restorative justice model, reducing the prison population, ending the remand prison crisis, drug law reform including cannabis decriminalisation, addressing systemic racism in the justice system, and reinvesting in community-based alternatives.
In simple terms
Reduce prison numbers, fix the remand system, decriminalise cannabis, address racial bias in justice, and fund community alternatives to imprisonment.
Impact to New Zealanders
Prison overcrowding eases, but courts face delays as community programmes need time to ramp up, frustrating crime victims awaiting justice.
Rural areas struggle to attract trained community workers, while cities benefit from programmes, creating unequal access to alternatives depending on where you live.
Generational shift: fewer young people with prison records improves employment and housing outcomes, but requires sustained funding or old patterns quietly resurface.
Labour's Crime & Justice Policy
Labour focused on rehabilitation through the Hāpai te Hauora health-based approach, reducing Māori over-representation in prisons, alternatives to imprisonment for non-violent offending, mental health courts, and addressing the root causes of crime through social investment.
In simple terms
Address the causes of crime through health and social support, reduce the number of Māori in prison, and use alternatives to jail for non-violent offenders.
Impact to New Zealanders
Courts and social agencies face budget pressure managing alternative sentences while prison infrastructure costs remain static, stretching resources thin.
Communities with intensive social support programs see crime drop, but their property values and service demand rise faster than council funding can match.
Generational shift: fewer young Māori with prison records improves employment and health outcomes, but workforce sectors relying on low-wage labor face supply constraints.
National's Crime & Justice Policy
National has introduced tougher sentencing, reinstating the three strikes law, boot camps for young offenders, more police officers, and gang suppression legislation. They focus on consequences for crime and supporting victims.
In simple terms
Bring back three strikes sentencing, create boot camps for young offenders, hire more police, and crack down on gangs.
Impact to New Zealanders
Prison population grows; courts and legal aid services become overwhelmed, delaying trials for all defendants.
Released prisoners with mandatory three-strikes records struggle finding jobs; some return to crime, offsetting police hiring gains.
High incarceration costs redirect billions from healthcare and education; communities with gang presence remain concentrated in same areas.
NZ First's Crime & Justice Policy
NZ First supports tougher sentences for violent offenders, gang suppression, more police in rural areas, prioritising New Zealand citizens for corrections staff, and opposing early parole. They have historically supported three strikes and opposing name suppression for serious offenders.
In simple terms
Tougher sentences for violent criminals, crack down on gangs, put more police in rural areas, and keep serious offenders in prison.
Impact to New Zealanders
Police redirect from rural areas to gang enforcement in cities; rural crime reporting drops, making rural residents feel forgotten.
Prison overcrowding forces early release of non-violent offenders; vulnerable inmates serve shorter sentences, creating victim frustration and repeat offending.
Generational incarceration of gang members leaves children in poverty cycles, requiring schools and social services to absorb costs taxpayers thought prisons solved.
Te Pāti Māori's Crime & Justice Policy
Te Pāti Māori advocates for addressing Māori over-imprisonment as a Treaty obligation, kaupapa Māori justice models, Rangatahi Courts, repealing three strikes legislation, addressing systemic racism, and investing in communities to prevent crime rather than increasing incarceration.
In simple terms
Fix the fact that Māori make up over 50% of prisoners, use Māori justice practices, repeal three strikes laws, and invest in communities to prevent crime.
Impact to New Zealanders
Courts become congested as three-strikes repeal triggers case reviews; prosecutors and judges face workload increases, delaying trials for all defendants.
Community investment reduces youth crime in targeted areas, but funding pressures mean other regions receive less police presence and crime prevention resources.
Māori-led justice practices reduce reoffending rates, lowering prison costs system-wide; however, success depends entirely on sustained funding—budget cuts would rapidly reverse gains.
TOP's Crime & Justice Policy
TOP supports decriminalising drug possession for personal use in favour of a health-based approach, establishing specialised courts for addiction and mental health, raising the youth court age to 18, and investing in rehabilitation over incarceration. The Citizen's Income is seen as addressing root economic causes of crime.
In simple terms
Treat drug use as a health issue, not a crime — decriminalise possession and fund treatment instead of prison. Specialised courts for addiction and mental health, and raise the age before young people enter adult courts.
Impact to New Zealanders
Police redirect resources from drug arrests to violent crime, but courts initially struggle handling addiction cases without trained staff.
Communities near treatment centres see improved local employment, but some neighbourhoods experience clustering of services, shifting visible drug use rather than reducing it.
Prison population shrinks, cutting corrections jobs; rural towns lose major employers, while data on long-term addiction outcomes determines if savings justify public health gains.