Source: Alliance Party
Monday 21 September 2026
The Alliance Party has released its 2026 Justice Policy, built around preventing harm, repairing it, and standing with victims.
Alliance Party justice spokesperson and Ilam candidate Courtney Fraser says the state of the courts and prisons is not an accident but a policy choice.
“It’s hard to talk about criminal justice without talking about policy, because where we find ourselves today with incarceration, the lack of rehabilitation, and the lack of access to services, is down to public policy.”
“Our criminal law is still built around punishing the people who offend, and there is far too little for the victims of crime.”
“Underinvestment in housing, work, training, and education over the last forty years has led to a social crisis, and our courts are where that crisis ends up.”
Ms Fraser says the Alliance policy tackles the causes of offending through secure housing, decent work, education and training, healthcare, and mental health and addiction services.
The policy establishes habilitation centres as an alternative to prison, particularly for young people, and brings back Community Care Orders as a sentencing option.
It places restorative justice at the centre of appropriate responses to offending, supports marae-based processes where appropriate, and properly resources iwi and Māori organisations to provide rehabilitation and restorative programmes.
A properly resourced Victim/Criminal Compensation Board will oversee financial, physical and other support for victims of crime.
Ms Fraser says the Alliance will review legal aid with the aim of a comprehensive, publicly funded system of legal assistance, including expanded legal aid, sustainable resourcing for Community Law Centres, and an enhanced Public Defence Service, so that no one is denied justice because they are poor.
Prisons will be publicly owned and operated, and the Alliance opposes private prisons. Reflecting its principle that no person or corporation is above the law, the Alliance will also reinstate the right to sue corporations or individuals over damage caused by emissions-related climate change effects.
“We’re all in this together on these tiny, faraway islands. We must close the gaps in our systems so none of us are left behind.”
“The best thing we can do for victims is stop making new ones. Where the current approach is three strikes and out, ours is three strikes and into treatment.”
The policy rests on six principles: prevent rather than simply punish; rehabilitate rather than abandon; restore where possible rather than simply incarcerate; support victims rather than abandoning them; guarantee access to justice regardless of wealth; and protect rights by holding everyone, including government and corporations, accountable under the law.