“The Labour Government turned its back on victims of serious crime when it repealed the Three Strikes legislation. ACT is bringing it back,” says ACT’s Justice spokesperson Todd Stephenson.

“Three Strikes was an ACT idea introduced in 2010 to send a signal to violent offenders that New Zealanders won’t tolerate repeated violent and sexual offending.

“The average Three Strikes offender had 75 convictions. Just 24 people were sentenced to a Third Strike. The total number of people sentenced to a first, second or third strike accounted for just one percent of the people sentenced in our courts. They were the worst of the worst. These offenders leave behind a long list of victims, some who will never fully recover from the trauma.

“Labour spent six years cuddling criminals and ignoring victims. We’re turning this around.

“Since Labour set a goal to reduce the prison population by 30 per cent, more criminals have been receiving home detention instead of going to jail. It was a priority for ACT to abolish this target which we secured as part of our coalition agreement.

“Victims of violent crime deserve justice and New Zealanders deserve to be safe.”

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