Sentencing Act 2002

Sentences, orders, and related matters - Miscellaneous, transitional, and savings provisions - Transitional and savings provisions

152: Section 86 not to apply to offender convicted of offence committed before commencement date except for serious violent offender

You could also call this:

"New law rules don't apply to old crimes, unless it's a very serious violent offence."

If you commit a crime before a new law starts, the rules in section 86 usually do not apply to you when you are sentenced. You are sentenced by a judge after you have been found guilty of a crime. The new law starts on a date called the commencement date. If you commit a serious violent offence, which is a very bad crime, before the commencement date, the rules in section 86 will still apply to you.

If you are sentenced for a serious violent offence, the judge will look at the rules in section 86. Section 86 is part of the Sentencing Act 2002, which is a law that guides judges when they sentence people. A serious violent offence is defined in section 2 of the Criminal Justice Act 1985, which is another law that helps judges understand what serious violent offences are.

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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=DLM137203.

Topics:

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

151: Offender subject to community-based sentence under Criminal Justice Act 1985 sentenced to further community-based sentence after commencement date, or

"Rules for people who get two community-based sentences, one before and one after 2002"

153: Offender convicted of specified offence committed before commencement date, or

"What happens if you broke the law before 2002 and are sentenced after that"

Part 2Sentences, orders, and related matters
Miscellaneous, transitional, and savings provisions: Transitional and savings provisions

152Section 86 not to apply to offender convicted of offence committed before commencement date except for serious violent offender

Except as provided in subsection (2), nothing in section 86 applies to an offender who is sentenced on or after the commencement date for an offence committed before that date.
If an offender is sentenced on or after the commencement date for an offence committed before that date that is a serious violent offence as defined in section 2 of the Criminal Justice Act 1985, section 86 applies.