Newshub can reveal a rise in the number of gang members who breached their home detention conditions and were discharged without further penalty.
Figures obtained by Newshub show the number of gang members sentenced to home detention has risen across multiple gangs, including the Hell's Angels, Rebels, King Cobras and Nomads.
For example, in 2017/18, two Hell's Angels members were sentenced to home detention compared to 20 members in 2022/23. Looking at the Nomads, eight members were sentenced in 2017/18 compared to 31 in 2022/23.
For New Zealand's two biggest gangs - the Mongrel Mob and Black Power - the number has risen since 2017/18, peaking in 2021, but it's come down since then. In 2017/18, 105 Mongrel Mob members were sentenced to home detention compared to 163 in 2022/23.
It coincides with a rise in gang members who have breached their home detention conditions but were discharged without further penalty. In 2017/18, 25 gang members were discharged with a conviction compared to 61 in 2022/23.
The National Party's justice spokesperson Paul Goldsmith says it justifies the need to make gang membership an aggravating factor at sentencing.
"Making being a gang member an aggravating factor at sentencing will see fewer of them on home detention," Goldsmith told Newshub.
"We need to have a robust discipline system. If you breach the conditions, there should be consequences."
National also wants to impose a maximum sentence discount of 40 percent - a policy Labour leader Chris Hipkins disagrees with.
"We have an independent judiciary for a reason, a politically independent judiciary for a reason, because it leads to fairer outcomes for everybody," Hipkins told Newshub.
Criminal lawyer John Munro - who has represented gang members - told Newshub home detention breaches can often be minor, like walking too far from the designated premises.
"The data could actually be telling us that the Department of Corrections are doing a really good job and being very rigorous as to even minor infractions with gang members."
Corrections has carried out internal reviews on specific offenders and their management on home detention. But the department refused to release the information to Newshub over privacy concerns, so it's hard to know what's behind the rise in electronic monitoring breaches.
But a new University of Auckland study of 200 prisoners suggests stable housing could be the key to successful reintegration of offenders.
Of those who reported having stable housing, 7.4 percent were reimprisoned within a year, compared to 34 percent of those who reported having unstable housing.
"You can see that's quite a substantial difference," Auckland University Associate Professor Alice Mills, the lead author and a criminologist, told Newshub.
"Recidivism has a high human and economic cost in Aotearoa, which is why everyone who enters prison, regardless of their status, should be given a detailed housing needs assessment which should be maintained and updated throughout their stay."
It could be the difference between an offender having a fresh start - or continuing to live a life of crime.
