29 Aug 2017

Know your policy: Law and order

From Election17 - Policy Comparisons, 2:37 pm on 29 August 2017

Rehabilitation or retribution? Check out the major parties' crime and justice policies.

Sliding barred doors and lock

Inside the maximum security prison at Paremoremo in Auckland Photo: RNZ / Cole Eastham Farrelly

National

  • 1125 more police staff over the next four years
  • $115m boost for Corrections rehabilitation and for the courts to handle more cases
  • $1.8m for robbery prevention at dairies, superettes and small local businesses
  • Introduce a Young Serious Offender classification and 50 of those young people would be sent to a defence-led Junior Training Academy for one year

Labour

  • Fund 1000 more police officers and the resources they need to make communities safer
  • Work with police to tackle the increasing numbers of assaults, sexual assaults, burglaries, robberies, as well as methamphetamine supply
  • Community policing will be a priority
  • Address the causes of crime through policies to create more jobs and lift incomes, reduce poverty, make education and training more readily available to young people

Green Party

  • Support a dedicated and well-trained victim support unit working with police and other agencies
  • Encourage police recruitment from a range of ethnic groups
  • Establish a truly independent police complaints authority
  • Conduct a wide-ranging review into police culture, investigation methods and relationships with communities
  • (L-R) Justice O'Regan, Justice William Young, Chief Justice Elias, Justice Glazebrook, Justice Ellen France.

    Photo: Supplied / NZ Law Society

  • Introduce a stop/search form to be filled out by police on the occasion of any warrantless search
  • Legislate for employers to provide domestic violence leave 
  • Increase funding and support for restorative justice in the criminal justice system
  • Adequately fund victim support services to pay for victims to attend restorative justice processes
  • Provide counselling and compensation for victims.
  • No private prisons

New Zealand First

  • Add an extra 1800 frontline police 
  • Introduce legislation to ban all criminal gangs
  • Provide fast, easy access for police officers to all the tools and equipment required to do their jobs properly, including firearms
  • Provide minimum double staffing of all existing sole-charge stations
  • Officially separate traffic police from general duties police
  • Provide proper and adequate resourcing for community policing, including Māori wardens, Pasifika wardens, and Neighbourhood Watch
  • Review police pay and conditions with the goal of achieving parity with those in Australia
  • Set a mandatory minimum non-parole period of 40 years for premeditated murder
  • Set up a public paedophile register
  • Make it an offence to be drunk or drug affected in a public place or while trespassing on private property

ACT

  • Introduce 'three strikes' for burglary, meaning someone convicted of a third burglary offence gets three years in prison
  • Reward prisoners who complete literacy programs and driver licensing tests with reduced sentences
  • Cut red tape to allow people to volunteer in prison education and rehabilitation programmes

Māori Party

    A corrections officer

    Photo: RNZ / Cole Eastham-Farrelly

  • Push for a review of the entire justice system and restructure it upon the basis of the Treaty of Waitangi
  • Reduce the rate of Māori over-imprisonment by 30 percent by 2027
  • Throw out the three-strikes legislation
  • Place a moratorium on the building of new prisons and extend Whare Oranga Ake to every prison service
  • Dismantle institutional racism within the justice system as a matter of urgent priority
  • Support whānau-focused alcohol and drug, addiction, recovery and restoration services
  • Review protocols around police use of guns and tasers.
  • Introduce legislation to ensure that assets maintained by white collar criminals are able to be used to pay outstanding debts to investors
  • Disestablish the Independent Police Conduct Authority

United Future

  • Remove Class C drugs from the Misuse of Drugs Act and place them within the Psychoactive Substances Act testing regime
  • Establish community safety plans with police, local bodies and communities
  • Ensure that police target and monitor the persistent criminals in communities, particularly gangs
  • Ensure that police co-ordinate closely with social service and child protection agencies
  • Establish a transparent police staffing formula that ensures a minimum presence in all areas


 

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