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?Election policy tracker: what the parties are promisingNZFirst 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?Election policy tracker: what the parties are promisingNZFirst 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?NZLS | 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 promisingNZFirst Law and Order Policy Announcement: Tougher Sentences, Degrees of Murder, Smashing Organised Crime, Life Means LifeLaw & Order Policy: Where NZ Parties Stand in 2026

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?Election policy tracker: what the parties are promisingNZLS | 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.

National

Supports the Young Serious Offender category and military-style youth justice academies for serious repeat offenders.

ACT

Favours stronger consequences and deterrence. It also supports treating 17-year-olds who commit serious offences within the adult justice system.

NZ First

Proposes a Youth Justice Demerits system and secure training orders, with escalating consequences.

Greens

Want to replace boot camps and youth justice residences with community-based and whānau-centred rehabilitation.

Te Pāti Māori

Supports raising the age of criminal responsibility to 16 and replacing punitive approaches with community-led healing.

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 2026Election policy tracker: what the parties are promisingNZLS | 1. What are your party’s 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 – compare criminal justice, policing and other policy areas across parties.
2. New Zealand Law Society – Election 2026 justice policies – parties' own responses on justice priorities, published October 2026.
3. The Conversation – 2026 Election Policy Tracker – independent comparison of campaign announcements.
4. New Zealand First – Law and Order Policy – detailed October 2026 sentencing and organised crime proposals.
5. National Party – 2026 election policies – 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.

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