Sentencing (Reinstating Three Strikes) Amendment Act 2024

In May 2010, the Fifth National Government passed the Sentencing and Parole Reform Act 2010 (SPRA), which introduced a three-strikes law sentencing regime for repeat offenders. While it was supported by the centre-right National and libertarian ACT parties, the Sentencing and Parole Reform Act was opposed by the opposition Labour and Green parties as well as National's confidence and supply partner the Māori Party. The SPRA was controversial in New Zealand following its passage. While critics objected to its punitive approach to justice and disproportionate impact on the Māori community, supporters such as the Sensible Sentencing Trust and Family First New Zealand contended that it protected the public from the worst offenders. During the 2017 New Zealand general election, Labour had campaigned on repealing the SPRA if elected into government. However the Sixth Labour Government had been forced to abandon its plans to repeal the law in 2018 due to the objection of its coalition partner New Zealand First. Following the 2020 New Zealand general election, Labour won a landslide victory, allowing it to govern alone for the first time since the mixed-member proportional representation (MMP) system was introduced in 1996. On 9 August 2022, Labour passed legislation repealing the Sentencing and Parole Reform Act with the support of the allied Green Party and Te Pāti Māori. In response, the opposition National and ACT parties vowed to reinstate three-strikes legislation if they won the 2023 New Zealand general election. ==Key provisions==

The Reinstating Three Strikes Amendment Bill's regime will cover the same 40 serious violent and sexual offences as the former Sentencing and Parole Reform Act 2010, with the addition of the new strangulation and suffocation offences. The three-strikes law applies to criminal sentences of 12 months and above. While an initial version of the legislation had set a minimum qualifying sentencing threshold of 24 months, this was lowered to 12 months at the select committee stage. ==Legislative history==

Launch and regulatory impact statement As part of the National Party's coalition agreement with ACT that was released on 24 November 2023, the Sixth National Government agreed to commit to restoring three-strikes legislation as part of several "tough on crime" policies. Associate Justice Minister Nicole McKee subsequently amended the draft legislation to exclude low-level offending and reduce the risk of disproportionate sentencing. On 22 April 2024, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and McKee confirmed that the Government would proceed with plans to reintroduce three strikes legislation. Details of the new three strikes regime were released including the inclusion of strangulation and suffocation as three-strike offenses and a new requirement that three-strikes legislation would only apply to sentences above 24 years. Introduction On 25 June 2024, McKee introduced the legislation into Parliament. First reading The Bill passed its first reading on 25 June 2024 by a margin of 68 to 55 votes. While the National, ACT and New Zealand First parties supported the Bill, it was opposed by the opposition Labour, Green parties and Te Pāti Māori. The bill's sponsor McKee said that it would warn offenders about the consequences of serious repeat offending while emphasising that the law would give judges flexibility when imposing sentences. Opposition MPs Duncan Webb, Tamatha Paul, Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke, Ginny Andersen and Tracey McLellan criticised the Reinstating Three Strikes Bill, arguing that previous legislation had failed to reduce reoffending, worsened mass incarceration and disproportionately affected Māori. Government MPs Tim Costley, Casey Costello, James Meager, Cameron Brewer and Paulo Garcia argued that the Bill would restore law and order, deter and punish serious repeat offenders, and make communities safer. The committee received 749 submissions from interested groups and individuals, and heard oral evidence from 41 submitters via video conference and in person at Wellington. The Children's Commissioner, New Zealand Bar Association, New Zealand Law Society, Pacific Lawyers Association, Human Rights Commission, Māori Law Society and the Law Association opposed the bill on various grounds including that it would disproportionately affect Māori and Pasifika New Zealanders, ignored the circumstance of individual offenders, failed to reduce the causes of crime, and conflicted with the Treaty of Waitangi, Bill of Rights and the recommendations of the United Nations Committee Against Torture. On 22 October 2024, Nicole Mckee confirmed that the Government had agreed, following public consultation, to lower the threshold for first strike offenses from 24 months to 12 months and to activate three strikes warnings issued under the previous Sentencing and Parole Reform Act 2010 legislation where offenders met the new thresholds under the new legislation. The justice select committee released its report on 3 December 2024. They proposed several amendments including lowering the "qualifying sentence threshold" for stage one offenders to 12 months; clarifying that offenders serving home detention instead of imprisonment would cease to have a record of a first warning; issuing warnings for offenders serving sentences longer than 12 months but shorter than 24 months; clarifying which courts could give three-strike offenders warnings; removing the requirement for courts to give written reasons for issuing minimum penalties; clarifying the criteria for courts to impose "the manifestly unjust exception" on offenders; cancelling warnings in the event that offenders were granted free or conditional pardons; and ensuring that strikes issued under the previous three-strikes regime would "carry on" under the new three strikes regime. The latter amendment was made in response to feedback from submitters arguing that warnings issued under the previous regime should remain valid under the new regime. The Bill received royal assent on 17 December 2024. Implementation The Reinstating Three Strikes Amendment Act 2024 came into force on 17 June 2025. ==Responses==

Political parties On 22 April 2024 Green Party's justice spokesperson Tamatha Paul opposed the Reinstating Three Strikes Bill, stating that it would disproportionately target Māori and contribute to New Zealand's high incarceration rate. Similarly, Labour justice spokesperson Duncan Webb said that three strikes sentencing regimes and other minimum sentencing laws did little to reduce serious crime and reoffending. Civil society The conservative justice advocacy group Sensible Sentencing Trust (SST) trustee Louise Parsons criticised the Reinstating Three Strikes Bill, describing the proposed law as "weak and watered-down." The Trust opposed the Government's decision to wipe 13,000 former strike warnings and said that the new legislation only affected 30% of offenders covered under the 2010 three-strikes sentencing regime. Parsons also said that the Trust would be reactivating to oppose the legislation and called on the Government to deliver a stronger version of the three-strikes law. In mid October 2024, Radio New Zealand reported that 450 of the 763 select committee submissions of the three-strikes legislation were based on a template issued by the SST. When interviewed, Trust spokesperson Parsons said that the template was used to make it easier for citizens to engage with the legislative process. ==Statistics==