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Sentencing Act 2002

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

155: Suspended sentences of imprisonment

You could also call this:

"What happens with a suspended prison sentence"

Illustration for Sentencing Act 2002

If you were given a suspended sentence of imprisonment under the Criminal Justice Act 1985 before the new sentencing laws started, you will still have to follow that sentence. The rules about suspended sentences from the Criminal Justice Act 1985 will still apply to you, even though some of those rules have changed.

If a court decides your suspended sentence should not start for the planned time, the court can choose to do a few things. The court can order your suspended sentence to start with a shorter time in prison, or they can cancel it and give you a new sentence like paying a fine, doing community work, or paying to fix the harm you caused, which can include a community-based sentence under subpart 2 of the Sentencing Act 2002. The court can also cancel your suspended sentence altogether, or they can decide not to make any changes to your sentence.

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View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM137206.

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Crime and justice > Criminal lawCrime and justice > Courts and legal help
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Part 2Sentences, orders, and related matters
Miscellaneous, transitional, and savings provisions: Transitional and savings provisions

155Suspended sentences of imprisonment

  1. This section applies to an offender who, immediately before the commencement date, was subject to a suspended sentence of imprisonment imposed under the Criminal Justice Act 1985.

  2. The offender continues to be subject to that sentence on and after the commencement date, and the provisions of the Criminal Justice Act 1985 (as modified by subsection (3)), and any other enactment, relating to suspended sentences apply as if they had not been amended or repealed by this Act.

  3. Section 21A of the Criminal Justice Act 1985 must be read as if for subsection (5) of that section there were substituted subsection (4) of this section.

  4. If a court decides that a suspended sentence is not to take effect for the period specified in the order, the court must either—

  5. order that the suspended sentence—
    1. take effect with the substitution of a lesser term of imprisonment; or
      1. be cancelled and replaced by any sentence of reparation or a fine that could have been imposed on the offender at the time when the offender was convicted of the offence for which the suspended sentence was imposed, or a community-based sentence under subpart 2 of the Sentencing Act 2002; or
        1. be cancelled; or
        2. decline to make any order referred to in paragraph (a) concerning the suspended sentence.