Sentencing Act 2002

Sentences, orders, and related matters - Monetary penalties - Fines

39: Power to impose fine instead of imprisonment, sentence of home detention, or community-based sentence

You could also call this:

"The court can choose a fine instead of prison or other punishments."

If a law says a court can send you to prison, but does not say you can pay a fine instead, the court can still decide that you pay a fine. This is also true if a law says a court can give you a community-based sentence or a sentence of home detention, but does not mention a fine. The court can choose to give you a fine instead of one of these other sentences, unless the law says otherwise, and you can find more information about this in the Sentencing Act 2002 and related laws like the Sentencing Amendment Act 2007.

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This page was last updated on 26 June 2025

View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM136008.

Topics:

Crime and justice > Criminal lawCrime and justice > Courts and legal help

38A: Cancellation of sentence of reparation, or

"When a court can stop you paying back money you owe as part of your sentence"

40: Determining amount of fine, or

"How a court decides the amount of money you must pay as a fine"

Part 2Sentences, orders, and related matters
Monetary penalties: Fines

39Power to impose fine instead of imprisonment, sentence of home detention, or community-based sentence

If an enactment provides that a court may sentence an offender to imprisonment but does not prescribe a fine, the court may sentence the offender to pay a fine instead of sentencing the offender to imprisonment.
If an enactment provides that a court may sentence an offender to a community-based sentence but does not prescribe a fine, the court may sentence the offender to pay a fine instead of imposing a community-based sentence.
If an enactment provides that a court may sentence an offender to a sentence of home detention but does not provide for a fine, the court may sentence the offender to pay a fine instead of imposing a sentence of home detention.
Subsections (1), (2), and (2A) are subject to any express provision to the contrary in the relevant enactment.
Repealed

Compare

1985 No 120 s 26(1), (3)

Notes

Section 39 heading: amended, on 1 October 2007, by section 16(1) of the Sentencing Amendment Act 2007 (2007 No 27).
Section 39(2A): inserted, on 1 October 2007, by section 16(2) of the Sentencing Amendment Act 2007 (2007 No 27).
Section 39(3): amended, on 1 October 2007, by section 16(3) of the Sentencing Amendment Act 2007 (2007 No 27).
Section 39(4): repealed, on 1 July 2013, by section 7 of the Sentencing Amendment Act (No 2) 2011 (2011 No 93).