Sentencing Act 2002

Sentences, orders, and related matters - Imprisonment

83: Cumulative and concurrent sentences of imprisonment

You could also call this:

"What happens when you get more than one prison sentence: can they be added together or served at the same time?"

When you get a sentence of imprisonment, it can be added to another sentence you are already serving. This is called a cumulative sentence and the court decides when this happens. The court can add a new sentence to one you are already serving, or to one that you will serve in the future.

If you are serving a sentence but are not in detention, the court may not add a new sentence to the one you are serving. You are not considered to be serving a sentence if you are detained under an interim recall order under the Parole Act 2002. This means that if you are subject to an interim recall order, the court will not add a new sentence to the one that the order applies to.

Some sentences, like ones that do not have a fixed end date, cannot be added to other sentences. Any sentence of imprisonment can be served at the same time as another sentence, this is called a concurrent sentence. If you are given a sentence for not paying a fine, or for disobeying a court order, it is treated like any other fixed sentence.

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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=DLM136445.

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82A: Additional consequences for certain repeated offending must not be taken into account in determining length of sentence, or

"The court doesn't consider extra penalties when deciding your prison sentence for a serious crime."

84: Guidance on use of cumulative and concurrent sentences of imprisonment, or

"How the court decides if you serve prison sentences one after another or at the same time"

Part 2Sentences, orders, and related matters
Imprisonment

83Cumulative and concurrent sentences of imprisonment

A determinate sentence of imprisonment may be imposed cumulatively on any other determinate sentence of imprisonment that the court directs, whether then imposed or to which the offender is already subject, including any sentence in respect of which a direction of that kind is or has been given.
Despite subsection (1), a court may not impose a sentence of imprisonment cumulatively on another sentence of imprisonment if, at the time of sentencing, the offender is subject to a sentence of imprisonment but, having commenced serving the sentence, is no longer detained under it.
For the purposes of subsection (2), a person who is detained under an interim recall order under the Parole Act 2002 is not detained under the sentence to which the interim recall order applies.
An indeterminate sentence of imprisonment must not be imposed cumulatively on any other sentence.
Any sentence of imprisonment may be imposed concurrently with any other sentence of imprisonment.
For the purpose of this section, a term of imprisonment imposed on an offender (whether by committal, sentence, or order) in respect of the non-payment of a sum of money, contempt of court, or disobedience of a court order is deemed to be a determinate sentence of imprisonment.

Compare

1985 No 120 s 73

Notes

Section 83(2): replaced, on 7 July 2004, by section 6 of the Sentencing Amendment Act 2004 (2004 No 68).