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Arapono is an independent platform. All information is sourced from official NZ government and electoral sources. We are not affiliated with any political party.

All parties on Crime & Justice
Crime & Justice · Party position

TOP on Crime & Justice

Reduce reoffending through rehabilitation and early prevention

The Opportunities Party wants to spend money on things proven to lower crime rather than just locking people up. They would fund courts and probation to cut the number of people held on remand, treat drug use as a health issue rather than a crime, help prisoners deal with family violence trauma, raise the youth court age to 25, and expand drug and mental health court programmes.

What they say they'll do

  • Increase funding for courts and probation to reduce remand prisoner numbers
  • Decriminalise drug possession (but not supply) and move to a health-led response
  • Expand prison programmes addressing family violence trauma
  • Raise the youth court age to 25, in line with developmental science
  • Expand drug and mental health court pilot programmes
  • Invest earlier in children to prevent the experiences that lead to later offending

Who this affects

People charged with drug possession
Under this policy, personal drug possession would no longer be treated as a criminal matter but instead directed toward health services.
Remand prisoners
More funding for courts and probation is intended to reduce the number of people held in prison while awaiting trial or sentencing.
Young people aged 18–24
Raising the youth court jurisdiction to 25 would mean this age group is handled through the youth justice system rather than the adult criminal courts.
Prisoners with family violence backgrounds
Expanded in-prison programmes would give these individuals access to support for processing past family violence experiences.
Taxpayers
The party frames the current prison system as costing more than $150,000 per prisoner per year and says shifting toward rehabilitation aims to reduce that overall cost.

In their own words

“It costs all of us more than $150,000 a year to house a prisoner. For context, we spend about $9,000 educating a child for a year.”
“In a justice system that's 'smart on crime', we'll invest in solutions that are proven to actually reduce crime rates, not just punish people.”
“De-criminalise drug possession (but not supply) and shift to a health-led response to drug issues.”
Verify at The Opportunities Party — official policy page

Summarised neutrally from The Opportunities Party’s own official policy (as at 2026-06-26) and checked by an editor. Nothing is paraphrased without the source linked. Read the original ↗ Arapono is non-partisan. Compare all parties on Crime & Justice →

Coverage at a glance

Which party holds a published position on which topic.

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Swipe across to see all 11 topics — the party column stays put.

PartyEconomyHousingHealthEducationClimateEnvironmentCrime & JusticeTreaty & Māori AffairsImmigrationForeign PolicyDemocracy & Government
National
Published position∅ No stated position (verified) Not captured yet
∅
Labour∅∅∅∅∅∅
Green
ACT
NZ First
Te Pāti Māori
TOP
Also contesting, without seats in Parliament
Women’s Rights
Animal Justice
ALCP
Conservative
Outdoors & Freedom
Vision NZ
Alliance
Free Palestine
NZ Loyal∅
Te Tai Tokerau∅