Local Focus: Do Tukituki candidates want as many prisons as America?

New Zealand has one of the highest prison populations per capita in the developed world but in this Local Focus video, Tukituki National candidate Lawrence Yule says he would like to go further.

He says he is not against rehabilitation or giving people a second chance "but for the serious crime - for drugs, gang warfare, serious assaults and things, we need to actually lock people up".

Labour candidate Anna Lorck says prison numbers have dropped under Labour but crime has not risen, suggesting the policy is working.

Many people were criminalised for offences such as unlicensed driving and she has been working on a programme with Greg Murphy to "put people on a road to work rather than a road to crime".

Green candidate Chris Perley says if society treats people as if they have potential and gives them hope of improving their circumstance "then they don't do something silly".

Also standing in the Tukituki electorate:
• Jan Daffern for ACT
• Nick McMinn-Collard for New Conservatives
• Melanie Petrowski for ONE
• Carl Peterson for Advance NZ
• Allister Tosh for Future Youth
• Romana Manning for the Legalise Cannabis party

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