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Sentencing Act 2002

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

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

You could also call this:

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

Illustration for Sentencing Act 2002

If you commit a serious crime, called a stage-3 offence, the court will decide your sentence. The court must sentence you to prison for a certain amount of time, unless it thinks this would be very unfair. You can find more information about what "manifestly unjust" means in section 86T. The amount of time you spend in prison depends on the type of crime you committed.

If your crime is not manslaughter and you did not plead guilty, the court must sentence you to the maximum term of imprisonment for that crime. If you pleaded guilty, the court must sentence you to at least 80% of the maximum term of imprisonment. For manslaughter, the court must sentence you to at least 10 years in prison if you did not plead guilty, or at least 8 years if you did plead guilty.

When the court sentences you, it must also decide if you can be paroled. The court will order that you serve your sentence without parole, unless it thinks this would be very unfair, as explained in section 86T. If the court does not make this order, it must explain why. The court must also tell you what sentence it would have given you if this law did not apply.

In some cases, the court can give you a different type of sentence, called preventive detention, as explained in section 87. If this happens, the court must still make sure you serve a certain amount of time in prison, as explained in section 89(1), unless it thinks this would be very unfair, as explained in section 86T. If the court gives you a shorter sentence, it must explain why.

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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=LMS1448082.

Topics:
Crime and justice > Criminal lawCrime and justice > Courts and legal help
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Part 2Sentences, orders, and related matters
Imprisonment: Additional consequences for certain repeated offending

86RStage-3 offences: imposition of minimum sentence and loss of parole eligibility for offence other than murder

  1. This section applies if a court would, in the absence of this section, have imposed a qualifying sentence on an offender for a stage-3 offence other than murder.

  2. The court must, unless the court is satisfied that, given the circumstances of the offence and the offender, it would be manifestly unjust to do so (see section 86T), sentence the offender to imprisonment for—

    Offence other than manslaughter

  3. the maximum term of imprisonment prescribed for the offence, if—
    1. the offence is not manslaughter; and
      1. the offender did not plead guilty to the offence:
      2. at least 80% of the maximum term of imprisonment prescribed for the offence, if—
        1. the offence is not manslaughter; and
          1. the offender pleaded guilty to the offence:

            2. Manslaughter

          2. a term of at least 10 years, if—
            1. the offence is manslaughter; and
              1. the offender did not plead guilty to the offence:
              2. a term of at least 8 years, if—
                1. the offence is manslaughter; and
                  1. the offender pleaded guilty to the offence.

                  2. When the court sentences the offender for the offence, the court must order that the offender serve the sentence without parole unless the court is satisfied that, given the circumstances of the offence and the offender, it would be manifestly unjust to make the order (see section 86T).

                  3. If the court does not make an order under subsection (3), the court must give reasons for not doing so.

                  4. If the court sentences the offender to at least the relevant minimum term of imprisonment set out in subsection (2)(a) to (d), the court must state, with reasons, the sentence and the minimum period of imprisonment (if any) that it would, but for the application of this section, have imposed.

                  5. Despite subsection (2), this section does not preclude the court from imposing, under section 87, a sentence of preventive detention on the offender and, if the court imposes such a sentence on the offender,—

                  6. subsections (2) to (4) do not apply; and
                    1. the minimum period of imprisonment that the court imposes on the offender under section 89(1) must not be less than the term of imprisonment that the court would have imposed under subsection (2), unless the court is satisfied that, given the circumstances of the offence and the offender, the imposition of that minimum period would be manifestly unjust (see section 86T).

                      1. If, in reliance on subsection (6)(b), the court imposes a minimum period of imprisonment that is less than the term of imprisonment that the court would have imposed under subsection (2), the court must give reasons for doing so.

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