# Question 130: For the 2026 New Zealand general election: Compare parties' plans for crime prevention, policing, sentencing and rehabilitation. Collected 2 November 2026 [NZ Election 2026 · Edition 8 study](https://nzbrands.ai/research/nz-election-2026/editions/8) ## ChatGPT Answer ID: 9129b455-1390-4577-bf55-5f9077d8d551 # 2026 New Zealand general election: Crime and justice policy comparison Policy comparison · 1 November 2026 · New Zealand The main divide in the 2026 election is between parties favouring stronger policing, tougher sentences and greater consequences for offending, and parties favouring early intervention, rehabilitation, restorative justice and reducing the social causes of crime. There is also a middle ground: some parties support strong enforcement against serious and repeat offenders while wanting more investment in preventing people from entering the criminal justice system. The comparison below focuses on six major parties: National, Labour, ACT, New Zealand First, the Greens and Te Pāti Māori. I have also included the Opportunity Party because it has a particularly clear rehabilitation-focused approach. ## 1. At-a-glance comparison | Party | Overall approach | | --- | --- | | National | Tougher enforcement, more police powers and stronger consequences | | Labour | Evidence-based prevention, public safety and equitable justice | | ACT | Personal responsibility, tougher sentencing and stronger enforcement | | NZ First | Very tough sentencing, gang suppression and victim priority | | Greens | Prevention, restorative justice and rehabilitation | | Te Pāti Māori | Māori-led justice, community healing and reducing imprisonment | | Opportunity | Early intervention, rehabilitation and reducing reoffending | These are differences in emphasis, not necessarily mutually exclusive positions. All seven parties say they want safer communities. Their disagreement is largely about which interventions are most effective and proportionate. ## 2. Crime prevention This is arguably the most important difference between the parties: whether preventing crime should primarily mean deterring potential offenders or addressing the circumstances that contribute to offending. | Party | Approach to preventing crime | | --- | --- | | National | Stronger consequences, gang enforcement, public-order measures and action against youth offending. | | Labour | Evidence-based public safety rather than reactive policies. Emphasises equitable access to justice. | | ACT | Deterrence, accountability, stronger enforcement and targeted rural policing. | | NZ First | Stronger deterrence, gang suppression, early intervention with young offenders and stronger enforcement against organised crime. | | Greens | Address poverty, inadequate housing, mental health, addiction and barriers to education. | | Te Pāti Māori | Address poverty and systemic inequalities through Māori-led, community-based justice. | | Opportunity | Early intervention, tackling the causes of offending and preventing reoffending. | ### Important differences National takes the view that visible enforcement, consequences for offending and stronger police powers contribute to safer communities. Its existing measures include gang restrictions, additional police powers and military-style youth justice academies. Labour argues that public safety needs to be evidence-based. Its approach is less centred on increasing punishment and more concerned with preventing offending and ensuring fair access to justice. Its published 2026 justice objectives are less detailed than those of some other parties. ACT places considerable emphasis on deterrence. Its approach includes consequences for repeat offending, stronger enforcement against gangs and additional rural police patrols. NZ First combines punitive enforcement with early intervention for young offenders. It wants a Youth Justice Demerits system and secure training orders. The Greens take a broader social-prevention approach. They argue that crime is connected to inadequate income, housing insecurity, mental health difficulties, addiction and educational disadvantage. Te Pāti Māori emphasises Māori-led solutions and reducing the effects of poverty and inequality. Its proposals seek to change the justice system rather than simply increase its capacity to punish. Opportunity focuses on intervening before offending becomes entrenched, followed by rehabilitation and reintegration. [NZLS | 1. What are your party’s key objectives in the justice portfolio?](https://www.lawsociety.org.nz/news/publications/lawtalk/lawtalk-issue-966/election-2026-special-feature/1-what-are-your-partys-key-objectives-in-the-justice-portfolio/)[Election policy tracker: what the parties are promising](https://stories.theconversation.com/nz-policy-tracker-2026/)[NZFirst Law and Order Policy Announcement: Tougher Sentences, Degrees of Murder, Smashing Organised Crime, Life Means Life](https://www.nzfirst.nz/nzfirst_law_and_order_policy_announcement_tougher_sentences_degrees_of_murder_smashing_organised_crime_life_means_life) ## 3. Policing and law enforcement This area concerns police numbers, powers, visibility, gang enforcement and the ability to respond to crime. | Party | Main policing position | | --- | --- | | National | Additional enforcement powers, gang restrictions, move-on orders and a dedicated Auckland transport police team. | | Labour | Public safety and evidence-based policing; fewer specific new policing commitments identified in its published justice objectives. | | ACT | 100,000 additional rural police patrol hours annually and better emergency text access in areas with poor coverage. | | NZ First | Ensure police have sufficient resources, training and personnel; establish a dedicated organised-crime agency. | | Greens | Focus on prevention and addressing the drivers of crime rather than relying predominantly on punitive enforcement. | | Te Pāti Māori | Greater emphasis on community-led justice and Māori-led alternatives to conventional justice responses. | | Opportunity | Prevention and rehabilitation rather than a predominantly enforcement-led approach. | ### Specific commitments worth noting National Transport policing National proposes: - A dedicated Auckland Transport Police Team. - 50 additional sworn officers. - Police presence on trains, buses, ferries and at high-risk transport hubs. It also supports move-on orders and has introduced stronger police powers relating to gangs and public disorder. ACT Rural policing ACT proposes: - 100,000 additional rural Police patrol hours each year. - Stronger penalties for poaching and livestock theft. - Better access to Text 111 in areas with poor mobile coverage. This is a particularly specific commitment for rural communities. NZ First Organised crime NZ First proposes: - A dedicated agency to dismantle organised criminal networks, including transnational crime. - Replacing the Serious Fraud Office with a specialist division within NZ Police. - Ensuring police have the resources and personnel to meet the demands of a growing population. The dedicated agency is a significant structural proposal, rather than simply an increase in police powers. Overall: National and ACT have particularly identifiable frontline policing commitments. NZ First has a strong focus on organised crime and enforcement infrastructure. The Greens and Te Pāti Māori put greater emphasis on changing the circumstances that lead to crime. [NZLS | 1. What are your party’s key objectives in the justice portfolio?](https://www.lawsociety.org.nz/news/publications/lawtalk/lawtalk-issue-966/election-2026-special-feature/1-what-are-your-partys-key-objectives-in-the-justice-portfolio/)[Election policy tracker: what the parties are promising](https://stories.theconversation.com/nz-policy-tracker-2026/)[NZFirst Law and Order Policy Announcement: Tougher Sentences, Degrees of Murder, Smashing Organised Crime, Life Means Life](https://www.nzfirst.nz/nzfirst_law_and_order_policy_announcement_tougher_sentences_degrees_of_murder_smashing_organised_crime_life_means_life) ## 4. Sentencing and punishment This is where the ideological differences become particularly clear. | Issue | National | Labour | ACT | NZ First | Greens | Te Pāti Māori | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Three Strikes | Supports | Opposes restoration | Strongly supports | Supports | Opposes | Wants repeal | | Mandatory minimum sentences | Supports tougher sentencing | Opposes punitive approach | Supports | Strongly supports | Opposes | Opposes punitive approach | | Judicial discretion | More restrictions in some areas | Supports fair process | More emphasis on consequences | Wants more prescribed penalties | Strongly supports | Supports alternative justice | | Prison use | Stronger emphasis on imprisonment | More balanced approach | Strong emphasis on consequences | Strong emphasis on imprisonment | Last resort | Wants prisons abolished by 2040 | | Youth offending | Stronger consequences | More rehabilitative emphasis | Stronger consequences | Demerits and secure training | Community rehabilitation | Community-led alternatives | ### National National has already restored Three Strikes and strengthened sentencing legislation. Its further 2026 commitments include: - Abolishing good-character assessments at sentencing for all sexual offending. - Modernising sexual consent laws to require an affirmative yes. - Continuing to strengthen consequences for offending. - Improving court efficiency and reducing delays. National also supports removing the consideration of public reputation when sentencing sexual offenders. ### Labour Labour repealed Three Strikes in 2022 and opposes its restoration. Its overall position favours a justice system that achieves public safety without relying on reactive or insufficiently evidence-based punishment. Labour has not set out an equally extensive new sentencing package in the published 2026 material, so its precise proposals should not be overstated. ### ACT ACT supports a particularly strong deterrence-based sentencing model. Its headline new proposal is Three Strikes for Burglary: - A person convicted of burglary for the third time would receive at least three years in prison. - No parole, home detention or early release. ACT also supports the existing Three Strikes regime and stronger consequences for serious and repeat offenders. ### New Zealand First NZ First has one of the toughest proposed sentencing programmes. Its October 2026 package includes: - Greater use of mandatory minimum sentences for serious violent and sexual offending. - Life imprisonment without parole for first-degree murder and specified child murder cases. - A degrees-of-murder system. - Increasing the sentence for attempted murder and wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm from 14 to 25 years. - Increasing standard parole eligibility to 75% of a sentence for long-term offenders. - An eight-year minimum non-parole period for coward punches causing death. - Limiting sentence discounts for factors other than guilty pleas. NZ First also wants victims prioritised over offenders in sentencing and proposes that the state provide immediate reparation to victims, recovering the money from offenders afterwards. ### The Greens The Greens strongly oppose mandatory minimum sentences and restrictions on judicial discretion. They want: - Greater judicial discretion in sentencing. - Three Strikes abolished. - Mandatory minimum sentences abolished. - Greater use of restorative justice. - Prison used as a last resort. They argue that individual circumstances and the underlying causes of offending should be considered when determining appropriate sentences. ### Te Pāti Māori Te Pāti Māori wants a fundamental transformation of the justice system. Its headline proposal is to abolish prisons by 2040, replacing them with community-led alternatives. It also supports: - Repealing Three Strikes. - Māori-led justice institutions. - Reforming laws that criminalise poverty. - Community-based rehabilitation and healing. This is considerably more far-reaching than simply reducing prison sentences. [NZLS | 1. What are your party’s key objectives in the justice portfolio?](https://www.lawsociety.org.nz/news/publications/lawtalk/lawtalk-issue-966/election-2026-special-feature/1-what-are-your-partys-key-objectives-in-the-justice-portfolio/)[NZLS | 4. What policies does your party have to strengthen and uphold the rule of law, including throughout the legislative process?](https://www.lawsociety.org.nz/news/publications/lawtalk/lawtalk-issue-966/election-2026-special-feature/4-what-policies-does-your-party-have-to-strengthen-and-uphold-the-rule-of-law-including-throughout-the-legislative-process/)[Election policy tracker: what the parties are promising](https://stories.theconversation.com/nz-policy-tracker-2026/)[NZFirst Law and Order Policy Announcement: Tougher Sentences, Degrees of Murder, Smashing Organised Crime, Life Means Life](https://www.nzfirst.nz/nzfirst_law_and_order_policy_announcement_tougher_sentences_degrees_of_murder_smashing_organised_crime_life_means_life)[Law & Order Policy: Where NZ Parties Stand in 2026](https://whichparty.nz/topics/law-and-order) ## 5. Rehabilitation and reducing reoffending Rehabilitation is about reducing the likelihood that someone who has committed a crime will commit another one. It includes drug and alcohol treatment, mental health support, education, employment training, family support and reintegration into society. | Party | Rehabilitation approach | | --- | --- | | National | Maintains a stronger consequences-based approach, alongside rehabilitation within the corrections system. | | Labour | Supports public safety and evidence-based interventions, but its published new rehabilitation commitments are relatively limited. | | ACT | Emphasises personal responsibility and consequences; rehabilitation is secondary to deterrence in its headline proposals. | | NZ First | Secure training and stronger accountability for young offenders; less emphasis on alternatives to imprisonment. | | Greens | Strongly supports rehabilitation, restorative justice and community-based alternatives to prison. | | Te Pāti Māori | Māori-led rehabilitation, community healing and alternatives to incarceration. | | Opportunity | Makes rehabilitation and reintegration central to its approach. | ### Greens: rehabilitation as a central part of justice The Greens have a particularly comprehensive rehabilitation philosophy. Their proposals include: - Replacing youth justice residences and military-style boot camps with whānau and community-based rehabilitation. - Increasing access to mental health and addiction services. - Providing restorative justice opportunities. - Addressing the social conditions that contribute to offending. - Using imprisonment as a last resort. The underlying philosophy is that imprisonment alone does not necessarily resolve the reasons someone commits crime. ### Te Pāti Māori: community-led rehabilitation Te Pāti Māori proposes a Māori-led justice authority and a substantial move away from imprisonment. Its approach emphasises: - Whānau involvement. - Community-led solutions. - Culturally grounded rehabilitation. - Addressing poverty and systemic inequalities. - Replacing conventional prison-based punishment with alternative forms of accountability and healing. Its ambition to abolish prisons by 2040 is the most radical institutional proposal among the major parties. ### Opportunity: preventing repeat offending Opportunity's Smart on Crime approach centres on: - Early intervention. - Addressing the drivers of offending. - Rehabilitation during sentences. - Reintegration after sentences. - Reducing reoffending through proven interventions. Opportunity's full Smart on Crime policy was still described as forthcoming in the New Zealand Law Society's October election feature, so its detailed programme should be treated as less fully specified. ### National, ACT and NZ First These parties place greater emphasis on accountability and consequences. There is still room for rehabilitation within their approaches, but their most prominent 2026 commitments concern enforcement, sentencing, imprisonment and deterrence. National and ACT's approach to young serious offenders, and NZ First's proposed secure training orders, illustrate this difference particularly well. [NZLS | 1. What are your party’s key objectives in the justice portfolio?](https://www.lawsociety.org.nz/news/publications/lawtalk/lawtalk-issue-966/election-2026-special-feature/1-what-are-your-partys-key-objectives-in-the-justice-portfolio/)[Election policy tracker: what the parties are promising](https://stories.theconversation.com/nz-policy-tracker-2026/)[NZLS | 4. What policies does your party have to strengthen and uphold the rule of law, including throughout the legislative process?](https://www.lawsociety.org.nz/news/publications/lawtalk/lawtalk-issue-966/election-2026-special-feature/4-what-policies-does-your-party-have-to-strengthen-and-uphold-the-rule-of-law-including-throughout-the-legislative-process/) ## 6. Youth crime: an important dividing line Youth offending deserves separate consideration because the parties have substantially different ideas about how young offenders should be treated. ![Use of force allowed in Govt's military boot camps in 'strict conditions', Children's Minister says](https://images.openai.com/static-rsc-4/8gIbAi_C-X-S5OnpVLUJGNJncZcYItk3rVTGsupHJW-Pv5wnyR0SZhd3b8pw6_luS-R1k1vQlcF_ZLoWzgmCoBrYsVsF-y2WWSdb1kriUv9eqyS30oDtfC6r2vrnsWbE7hbdOjSEDekxWWqjAreEhtAV9tNzrpyU9CquKnCYlDk?purpose=inline) National Supports the Young Serious Offender category and military-style youth justice academies for serious repeat offenders. ![New Zealand Police | Nga Pirihimana O Aotearoa](https://images.openai.com/static-rsc-4/SJOmZVb2YjDC19HrFhEqbf_HlP16JEYJw4k5Is5L9LkhQCNbR-uv58A8eBZNUJIWmZXXXXh1xVgy3nVZjV9HusoJarbkoYFuBPg1oHYhdLVQvv5dTCmAMX_E88E2YzERTcNzTHFR4al0L6RYv9OllWznwwdwYByPvjI69Rg1D5Q?purpose=inline) ACT Favours stronger consequences and deterrence. It also supports treating 17-year-olds who commit serious offences within the adult justice system. ![CYC Trust | Supporting Young People to Flourish | Auckland](https://images.openai.com/static-rsc-4/_wO7Y5HPoAsnIE-W37nN_URuJb0WYs1ao4ZeRQZozisYB8rouLoHeu9RYcKJdwLAD1kcvHmK6fTsq1M0djHRcjecQ1IGCfOlob-GRObFxXFzGm8fzQ-tZ49-iCoEAYds1DDTOfIaMIQWd9fjZs2PACH1ALkBcCD0U-cKHHAS2yo?purpose=inline) NZ First Proposes a Youth Justice Demerits system and secure training orders, with escalating consequences. ![Youth justice family group conferences | Oranga Tamariki — Ministry for Children](https://images.openai.com/static-rsc-4/9nxZ4llHymTucms0XBh_Q3dlKH0GeY-PZm2QnE5gAzyxbJdaWO0MoaPe1XTV2ln0dLBk-9cbNUjh_EiqD2DMUv3V5L1G1zH2uxB8zsyta0-p2NrFWV16aLnyAKrdHVFMNdHTjBXUcjhnbxD9FHpB1k0TfmJQRmGcq8_X7MjAM6g?purpose=inline) Greens Want to replace boot camps and youth justice residences with community-based and whānau-centred rehabilitation. ![Rangatahi- Youth Support | Rongo Mauri](https://images.openai.com/static-rsc-4/VHeVXaLuGoDgKaoZ-IaFDaIjmHYEDvk40DnsBRlnuPG0NPq8-J9ceOvZoRFrpqK9h0mcRByJrJgXxwqFhFeS1dLS0uZmsGc19jdPfG0nojNGzbEaxFBX_dObsm0C7gfINxVOh2fuhkSHSS92JCxfUvTcJZ4oOGPy9htM40sAFHc?purpose=inline) Te Pāti Māori Supports raising the age of criminal responsibility to 16 and replacing punitive approaches with community-led healing. ![Fears benefit changes will impact youth job programme | RNZ News](https://images.openai.com/static-rsc-4/95L6naqrFIwmq9NtBvxAAxqd11xiUjLMKBqBNEygYtw-rGeFdRjq8UyRxYeOgThIaRNBnZ3yjbP20hk1w8rzC1HUqdOnr1DjgzPny7tdTNDwiWNN0EaWprO5eb7U-pWgbk1qtDe3ZRs2XuGtEXHakgSnTVp5ogC3pt5JCW0rj5w?purpose=inline) Opportunity Emphasises early intervention, education, addressing underlying problems and preventing young people from becoming repeat offenders. National and ACT are more comfortable with tougher interventions for young offenders. The Greens, Te Pāti Māori and Opportunity place substantially greater emphasis on rehabilitation and addressing the causes of youth crime. [Law & Order Policy: Where NZ Parties Stand in 2026](https://whichparty.nz/topics/law-and-order)[Election policy tracker: what the parties are promising](https://stories.theconversation.com/nz-policy-tracker-2026/)[NZLS | 1. What are your party’s key objectives in the justice portfolio?](https://www.lawsociety.org.nz/news/publications/lawtalk/lawtalk-issue-966/election-2026-special-feature/1-what-are-your-partys-key-objectives-in-the-justice-portfolio/) ## 7. Overall comparison: where do the parties sit? The following is my qualitative interpretation of their published policy priorities, rather than an official party ranking. More emphasis on punishment and deterrence NZ First Very strong ACT Very strong National Strong More emphasis on prevention and rehabilitation Te Pāti Māori Very strong Greens Very strong Opportunity Strong Labour Mixed / less specified Illustrative positioning based on the prominence and direction of published proposals, not measured effectiveness or a numerical policy score. ## 8. Which parties offer the strongest proposals in each area? | Policy objective | Parties with particularly prominent proposals | | --- | --- | | More visible rural policing | ACT | | Public transport policing | National | | Organised crime enforcement | NZ First | | Tougher sentences for serious crime | NZ First | | Repeat burglary deterrence | ACT | | Tougher sexual offending consequences | National and NZ First | | Addressing poverty as a cause of crime | Greens and Te Pāti Māori | | Community-based youth rehabilitation | Greens and Te Pāti Māori | | Reducing imprisonment | Te Pāti Māori and Greens | | Rehabilitation and reintegration | Opportunity and Greens | | Evidence-based public safety | Labour | ## 9. My assessment: what should voters consider? There are four important questions worth considering when comparing these policies. 1. Does tougher punishment actually reduce crime? Longer sentences can incapacitate serious offenders and communicate consequences. But sentence severity alone does not necessarily deter offending. The likelihood of detection, timely justice and the circumstances contributing to offending also matter. 2. Are police adequately equipped to prevent and investigate crime? Police numbers and powers are important, but so are investigative capability, response times, specialist units, community relationships and the ability to deal with organised crime. 3. What happens when offenders leave prison? Rehabilitation, addiction treatment, education and employment opportunities can be important in preventing repeat offending. A justice policy needs to consider what happens both inside and outside prison. 4. How should the justice system balance public safety and fairness? Victims deserve protection, support and accountability. At the same time, sentencing needs to be proportionate, and the justice system should avoid unnecessarily increasing imprisonment or creating further disadvantage. The effectiveness of a party's approach ultimately depends on implementation, funding and measurable reductions in offending and reoffending, not just the toughness of its announcements. ## 10. Sources and further reading These are useful resources for checking the parties' actual proposals rather than relying on campaign slogans. 1. [Policy.nz – 2026 election policy comparison](https://policy.nz/2026/party-vote/policies/law-justice-and-government?utm_source=chatgpt.com) – compare criminal justice, policing and other policy areas across parties. 2. [New Zealand Law Society – Election 2026 justice policies](https://www.lawsociety.org.nz/news/publications/lawtalk/lawtalk-issue-966/election-2026-special-feature/1-what-are-your-partys-key-objectives-in-the-justice-portfolio/?utm_source=chatgpt.com) – parties' own responses on justice priorities, published October 2026. 3. [The Conversation – 2026 Election Policy Tracker](https://stories.theconversation.com/nz-policy-tracker-2026/?utm_source=chatgpt.com) – independent comparison of campaign announcements. 4. [New Zealand First – Law and Order Policy](https://www.nzfirst.nz/nzfirst_law_and_order_policy_announcement_tougher_sentences_degrees_of_murder_smashing_organised_crime_life_means_life?utm_source=chatgpt.com) – detailed October 2026 sentencing and organised crime proposals. 5. [National Party – 2026 election policies](https://www.national.org.nz/policies?utm_source=chatgpt.com) – National's published policy announcements. ## Bottom line The biggest choice is between two different philosophies of public safety: - National, ACT and NZ First: Greater emphasis on police enforcement, deterrence, stronger sentencing and consequences for offenders. - Greens, Te Pāti Māori and Opportunity: Greater emphasis on preventing crime, addressing underlying causes, rehabilitation and alternatives to imprisonment. - Labour: A more moderate, evidence-based public safety position, although its specific new commitments across these four areas are less fully developed in the published material. One particularly important distinction is between reducing crime in the short term and reducing the likelihood of crime over the longer term. A strong criminal justice system arguably needs both effective enforcement and effective rehabilitation. The question for voters is which parties have the most credible, properly funded plans to achieve that balance. --- Worked for 17s Searching the web Searching the web Searching the web Searched 6 websites ## Gemini Answer ID: 5b46f548-4f2d-45ec-8817-dd7bd1530293 For the 2026 New Zealand General Election, law and order, crime prevention, and justice policy remain major political battlegrounds. The political landscape is broadly divided between the **centre-right parties** (National, ACT, and New Zealand First), which emphasise tougher sentences, stricter policing powers, and offender accountability, and the **centre-left/progressive parties** (Labour, the Green Party, and Te Pāti Māori), which focus heavily on early intervention, addressing root socio-economic causes of crime, and prioritizing rehabilitation. --- ### 1. Crime Prevention and Early Intervention * **National, ACT, & NZ First:** Their crime prevention approach is largely built on deterrence, higher accountability, and protecting communities. They emphasize supporting frontline enforcement, backing community safety initiatives against retail crime (such as ram-raids and aggravated robberies), and ensuring that early missteps in the justice system carry clear consequences rather than diversionary measures alone. ACT has also pushed policies targeting public security roles, such as expanding powers for private security guards. * **Labour, Greens, & Te Pāti Māori:** These parties champion a "social determinants of crime" framework. Their prevention plans heavily target upstream factors—such as youth mental health, housing deprivation, poverty, and education disengagement. The Green Party and Te Pāti Māori, in particular, advocate for fully resourced community-led prevention services, arguing that punitive measures fail to stop crimes before they happen. ### 2. Policing and Enforcement * **National & Coalition Allies:** The centre-right focus centers heavily on visible frontline policing, backing police authorities, and giving law enforcement the tools needed to crack down on gangs, illegal firearms, and violent offenders. Policies include enhancing tactical responses and addressing repeat youth offending through structured military-style or intensive intervention pathways alongside police enforcement. * **Labour & Progressive Parties:** While supporting core police staffing numbers, Labour and the left-of-centre blocs emphasize community policing models and building trust between marginalized communities and authorities. They typically critique policies that expand police powers unchecked, pointing instead to specialized mental health and addiction co-response teams to handle complex social crises safely. ### 3. Sentencing and Corrections * **National, ACT, & New Zealand First:** * **Tougher Sentences:** The platform champions strict penal policies. National's policies include removing "good character" sentence discounts for sexual offending and removing the right to silence in specific heinous cases (such as child murder trials). * **Consequences and Deportation:** ACT has campaigned heavily on strict consequence frameworks, including targeting serious repeat offenders and looking at tougher immigration-related crime consequences like deportation. * The overall philosophy is truth-in-sentencing, ensuring sentences reflect community revulsion and keeping serious offenders behind bars longer to ensure public safety. * **Labour, Greens, & Te Pāti Māori:** * **Reversing Mass Incarceration:** These parties generally oppose broad hikes to mandatory minimum or harsher sentences, citing New Zealand's high prison muster and the disproportionate imprisonment of Māori. * They favour evidence-led justice reform, aiming to reduce the prison population safely through targeted sentencing alternatives for non-violent offenses, and restoring voting rights or democratic access for those in custody. ### 4. Rehabilitation and Reintegration * **Centre-Left Focus:** Labour, the Greens, and Te Pāti Māori view rehabilitation as the cornerstone of long-term public safety. Their policies heavily emphasize scaling up in-prison and post-release mental health services, culturally grounded rehabilitation programs (such as Tikanga-based healing frameworks inside corrections), and removing structural barriers to housing and employment for ex-offenders to break cycles of reoffending. * **Centre-Right Focus:** While acknowledging the goal of lower reoffending rates, parties like National and ACT argue that rehabilitation must not come at the expense of public safety or accountability. Their approach to corrections couples custodial time with mandatory work, drug rehabilitation, and literacy requirements *inside* facilities, but insists that rehabilitation run concurrent with—rather than shorten—serving a just sentence for the crime committed. ## Google AI Mode Answer ID: d829d326-0bee-44db-8a41-187f87c9cd05 Ahead of the **7 November 2026 New Zealand general election** , political parties have outlined distinct approaches to law and order, balancing tougher penalties and policing resources with differing views on rehabilitation and the root causes of crime. The major and minor parties position their justice and crime prevention portfolios through the following approaches, as detailed in their policy platforms and public statements (including submissions to the New Zealand Law Society LawTalk Election 2026 Special Feature): 1. What are your party's key objectives in the justice portfolio? - NZLSElection 2026 Special Feature - New Zealand Law Society * * * **National Party (Incumbent / Governing)** * **Crime Prevention & Policing:** The National Party highlights that its current term in government has focused on giving police additional powers to target gangs, creating new offences for coward punches and attacks on first responders, and expanding citizens' arrest powers. They point to drops in recorded victim numbers and youth offending during their term. Future plans include modernising consent laws (requiring affirmative "yes") and removing character assessments at sentencing for sexual offences. * **Sentencing:** National states it has already toughened sentencing laws by restoring the "Three Strikes" law, scrapping taxpayer-funded cultural reports, abolishing Labour's prison reduction targets, and making stalking a criminal offence. They also restricted permanent name suppression in sexual violence cases. * **Rehabilitation:** National has shifted emphasis away from prisoner reduction targets, focusing instead on harsher accountability, court efficiency, and structural deterrence. **ACT New Zealand** * **Crime Prevention & Policing:** ACT emphasizes putting victims first and reducing court delays. Their focus includes targeting rural crime by promising 100,000 additional rural police patrol hours annually, tougher penalties for livestock theft and poaching, and improved emergency text options in poor coverage areas. They also propose criminalising deepfake pornography and addressing animal abuse coercion. * **Sentencing:** ACT supports strict consequences for repeat offences, highlighting the restoration of Three Strikes. For the next term, ACT proposes a dedicated **"Three Strikes for Burglary"** policy, which would mandate a minimum three-year sentence without parole for anyone convicted of commercial or residential burglary three times. * **Rehabilitation & System Focus:** ACT prioritises retributive justice, deterrence, and immediate consequences over systemic or therapeutic diversion programs. **New Zealand First** * **Crime Prevention & Policing:** NZ First prioritises victims and community security over the rights of offenders. They advocate for a heavy crackdown on gangs—including banning them, designating them as terrorist entities, expanding asset seizure laws, and introducing dedicated gang-only prisons. * **Sentencing:** NZ First campaigns on aggressive tightening of the Sentencing Act. This includes introducing mandatory minimum sentences, cumulative sentencing, a formal "degrees of murder" legal framework, and removing sentence discounts (such as cultural reports) for violent criminals. * **Rehabilitation & Youth Offending:** To address youth crime early, NZ First proposes a **Youth Justice Demerits system** alongside secure training orders rather than soft-touch community interventions. **Vision New Zealand** * **Crime Prevention & Policing:** Vision NZ focuses heavily on retail crime, ram raids, and public disorder. They propose outfitting frontline police with enhanced resources and legal powers to combat gang recruitment, intimidation, and drug supply. * **Sentencing & Bail:** They advocate for tightening bail and parole laws so that community safety is paramount and release is strictly tied to demonstrated personal responsibility. * **Rehabilitation:** Vision NZ supports prisons that enforce strict internal discipline while simultaneously funding grassroots community organizations with proven records to break cycles of reoffending through targeted skills and education. **Labour Party, Green Party, and Te Pāti Māori** * _Note:_ While right-of-centre and populist parties have competed on visibly tougher law-and-order metrics (such as mandatory minimums and gang crackdowns), progressive and left-of-centre parties like the Greens and Labour typically emphasize tackling the socioeconomic drivers of crime (poverty, housing, mental health), strengthening community law centres, and expanding legal aid accessibility over punitive incarceration expansions. (Te Pāti Māori and Labour generally advocate for whānau-centred and preventative social interventions rather than expanding prison capacities).