Sentencing Act 2002

Sentences, orders, and related matters - Home detention

80W: Court may defer start date of sentence of home detention

You could also call this:

"The court can delay when you start home detention for up to 2 months if they think it's fair."

If you get a sentence of home detention, the court can delay when you start serving it for up to 2 months. This can happen for humanitarian reasons or if the court thinks it is fair to delay the start of your sentence. The court will choose a new start date for your sentence of home detention if they decide to delay it.

The court can delay your sentence if they think it is the right thing to do, but there are some situations where they cannot do this. For example, if you already have another sentence of home detention, or if you are serving a different sentence, the court cannot delay your new sentence.

If the court has already delayed your sentence once, or if you have already started serving it, they cannot delay it again. You can find more information about this in 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=DLM136423.

Topics:

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

80V: Arrest without warrant for breach of detention or post-detention conditions, or

"Police can arrest you without a warrant if you break detention rules"

80X: Commencement of sentence of home detention, or

"When home detention starts and how it works if you have more than one sentence"

Part 2Sentences, orders, and related matters
Home detention

80WCourt may defer start date of sentence of home detention

The court may defer the start date of a sentence of home detention for a specified period of up to 2 months—
on humanitarian grounds; or
if the court is satisfied that it is in the interests of justice to defer the start of the sentence of home detention.

If a sentence of home detention is deferred in accordance with subsection (1), the sentence of home detention starts on the date to which the court has ordered that the sentence be deferred.
Despite subsection (1), no court may defer the start date of a sentence of home detention if—
the sentence of home detention is imposed cumulatively on any other sentence of home detention; or
the sentence of home detention is imposed in substitution for a sentence of home detention or imprisonment that has been quashed or set aside; or
an order under this section has already been made in respect of the sentence; or
the offender has already commenced serving the sentence or is detained under any other sentence or order.

Notes

Section 80W: inserted, on 1 October 2007, by section 44 of the Sentencing Amendment Act 2007 (2007 No 27).