Law, order and justice: where every party stands

Campaigning on adding burglary to the three-strikes regime, with a minimum three-year sentence and no parole or home detention.

Strongly opposed, argues the focus should be on 'preventing harm happening in the first place'.

Opposed reinstating Three Strikes, arguing mandatory minimums produce unjust outcomes without reducing crime.

Reinstated Three Strikes, capped sentence discounts at 40% and removed repeat discounts for youth and remorse.

Supports the coalition's sentencing reforms and consistently campaigns on tougher penalties.

Strongly opposed, argues mandatory sentencing deepens the over-incarceration of Māori.

Campaigning in the opposite direction: a three-strikes rule jailing repeat burglars for a minimum three years with no parole, home detention or early release.

Supports a major shift toward prevention and decarceration, without committing to full abolition by a fixed date.

Explicitly rules it out, described as 'dead-set against' abolishing prisons.

Strongly opposed, expanding prison capacity is an explicit Budget 2026 commitment.

Voted for the reinstatement of Three Strikes mandatory sentencing in 2024, which is expected to increase the prison population rather than reduce it.

Campaigning to abolish prisons by 2040, replaced with community-led solutions, a Māori Justice Authority, and closing youth residences and bootcamps.

Supports expanded capacity as the necessary consequence of longer sentences.

Opposed, would redirect the spending into prevention, housing and mental health.

Supports more police, but opposes expanding prison capacity as the primary response to crime.

Budget 2026 funds frontline police and corrections officers, expanded prison capacity and new transnational crime initiatives.

Long-standing supporter of higher police numbers and prison capacity.

Opposed, argues more prisons entrench the over-incarceration of Māori rather than reducing harm.

Its published law-and-order policy is built on mandatory minimum sentences rather than addressing drivers of offending: three strikes for burglary, no parole and no home detention.

Core justice principle, 'preventing harm happening in the first place' and reforming systems toward fair and equitable outcomes.

Favours addressing drivers of crime alongside enforcement, while maintaining prisons and police.

Prioritises deterrence and consequences, while funding some prevention and rehabilitation programmes.

Strongly favours deterrence, and is critical of what it calls soft-on-crime approaches.

Core policy, would reform laws that criminalise poverty and survival, and move toward transformation rather than incarceration.

Supported the gang patch ban and expanded police dispersal powers.

Opposed, argues the ban is ineffective, infringes rights and is disproportionately enforced against Māori.

Genuinely split. Hipkins has repeatedly committed to keeping the ban, while other Labour MPs have signalled repeal. The party has not finalised its position.

Banned gang patches in public in government and campaigns on the resulting drop in ram raids and violent crime victims.

A signature coalition win for NZ First, which has pushed gang crackdowns for decades.

Opposed, argues the powers are used disproportionately against Māori and do not address underlying harm.