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Sentencing Act 2002

Sentences, orders, and related matters - Imprisonment - Additional consequences for certain repeated offending

86Q: Stage-3 offences: transfer of proceedings to High Court

You could also call this:

"Big crimes go to the High Court for trial and sentencing"

Illustration for Sentencing Act 2002

If you are charged with a stage-3 offence, your case will be moved to the High Court when it is time for your trial. This happens according to rules set out in the Criminal Procedure Act 2011, under section 57 or section 36 of that Act. From then on, the High Court will handle your case, including the trial.

You can only be sentenced for a stage-3 offence by the High Court, or by the Court of Appeal or the Supreme Court if you appeal. No other court can sentence you for this type of offence.

These rules apply even if other laws say something different, because they override any other legislation that might contradict them.

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This page was last updated on

View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=LMS1448081.

Topics:
Crime and justice > Criminal lawCrime and justice > Courts and legal help
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86P: Stage-2 offences: imposition of minimum period of imprisonment when life imprisonment imposed for murder, or

"Life imprisonment for murder: how long you must stay in prison"

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86R: Stage-3 offences: imposition of minimum sentence and loss of parole eligibility for offence other than murder, or

"What happens if you commit a very serious crime in New Zealand, like a stage-3 offence, and how you might be sentenced."

Part 2Sentences, orders, and related matters
Imprisonment: Additional consequences for certain repeated offending

86QStage-3 offences: transfer of proceedings to High Court

  1. A proceeding against a defendant charged with a stage-3 offence must be transferred to the High Court when the proceeding is adjourned for trial or trial callover under section 57 of the Criminal Procedure Act 2011 or, as the case may be, under section 36 of that Act, and the proceeding from that point, including the trial, must be in the High Court.

  2. Only the High Court, or the Court of Appeal or the Supreme Court on an appeal, and no other court, may sentence an offender for a stage-3 offence.

  3. Subsections (1) and (2) override any legislation to the contrary.

Notes
  • Section 86Q: inserted, on , by section 7 of the Sentencing (Reinstating Three Strikes) Amendment Act 2024 (2024 No 54).