The Green Party envisages a justice system based on Te Tiriti o Waitangi, tikanga Māori and te ao Māori values. We will prioritise restorative justice, rehabilitation, and community responses to offending. We will focus on prevention, early intervention, and addressing underlying issues such as mental health and addiction. We will tackle bias, discrimination and inequalities in the justice system, while removing barriers to access to justice and strengthening accountability to ensure that it upholds everyone’s rights.
Vision
The justice system heals and protects people and communities equitably.
Values and Principles
Decisions relating to the justice system must uphold the following values and principles:
- Honour Te Tiriti o Waitangi: Tikanga Māori is the first law of Aotearoa. The justice system should uphold tino rangatiratanga and ensure equity for Māori.
- Ecological Wisdom: Environmental justice is an integral part of justice. The legal system should protect nature now and in the future.
- Social Responsibility: Everyone is entitled to equitable access to justice, to a fair hearing, and to be treated with respect in the justice system. Everyone deserves an opportunity to atone for past wrongs and to reintegrate into society.
- Appropriate Decision-Making: The rule of law and judicial independence are fundamental to achieving justice. Transparency is necessary to ensure that justice is both done and seen to be done.
- Non-Violence: The justice system should engage all participants with compassion, ensure support is available, and seek to be transformative and restorative rather than punitive.
- International Obligations: Honouring international obligations and institutions is necessary to ensure justice and peace, both internationally and in Aotearoa New Zealand.
Strategic Priorities
The Green Party’s strategic goals include:
“As a Party we strive to create a more connected, compassionate, and equal Aotearoa, free from structural biases that discriminate against groups and individuals.“
Actions in this policy that will help achieve this include:
- Establishing a Mana Ōrite (equal power) governance model under which Māori and Crown agencies share in justice sector decision-making. (1.1.2)
- Investing in a Tiriti-based primary prevention and early intervention model. (1.2.1)
- Expanding legal aid eligibility to cover all people who need it, increasing payment rates, and providing it as grants. (2.1.3)
- Enabling judicial discretion in sentencing, including by abolishing mandatory minimum sentences, life sentences, preventive detention, limits on sentence discounts, and limits on when home detention can be imposed instead of imprisonment. (3.6.2)
- Increasing funding for counselling and mental health support for victims, whānau, witnesses, defendants, and legal professionals engaging in the justice system. (3.13.1)
- Replacing youth justice residences and boot camps with whānau and community-based rehabilitation services for young people. (3.14.1)
Connected Policies
The justice system must uphold Human Rights and Te Tiriti o Waitangi. Prisoner voting and constitutional issues are addressed in the Governance Policy, while the Global Affairs Policy covers international law. Crime and justice issues are connected to social and economic inequalities that are addressed in policies such as Livelihoods, Housing and Sustainable Communities, and Education. Failure to provide timely and sufficient Disability and mental Health support contributes to the overrepresentation of disabled people, including neurodivergent people and people with mental health conditions, in the justice system. Drug laws are addressed in the Drug Law Reform Policy. Pay equity and workers’ rights are covered in the Workforce Policy and are relevant to workers in the justice sector.
