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Sentencing Act 2002

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

86S: Stage-3 offences: imposition of minimum period of imprisonment when life imprisonment imposed for murder

You could also call this:

"Life in prison for murder: you must stay in prison for at least 18 or 20 years"

Illustration for Sentencing Act 2002

If you commit a serious crime like murder, and it is a stage-3 offence, the court might sentence you to life in prison. When the court sentences you, they must decide if you can be paroled. If the court does not make an order saying you cannot be paroled, they must make another order. This order says you must stay in prison for a minimum amount of time. You will stay in prison for at least 18 years if you pleaded guilty to the murder. If you did not plead guilty, you will stay in prison for at least 20 years. The court must explain why they chose the minimum amount of time they did, or why they did not make this order, and they can look at section 86T to help them decide if it would be unfair to make this order.

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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=LMS1448083.

Topics:
Crime and justice > Criminal lawCrime and justice > Courts and legal help
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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."

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86T: Guidance on application of manifestly unjust exception in certain provisions, or

"Guidance on when a sentence might be too unfair for you"

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

86SStage-3 offences: imposition of minimum period of imprisonment when life imprisonment imposed for murder

  1. This section applies if—

  2. a court imposes a sentence of imprisonment for life on an offender for a murder that is a stage-3 offence; and
    1. the court does not make an order under section 103(2A) requiring the offender to serve the sentence without parole.

      1. When the court sentences the offender for the murder, 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), make an order imposing a minimum period of imprisonment of at least—

      2. 18 years, if the offender pleaded guilty to the murder:
        1. 20 years, in any other case.

          1. If the court makes an order under subsection (2), the court must state, with reasons, the minimum period of imprisonment that it would, but for the application of this section, have imposed.

          2. If the court does not make an order under subsection (2), the court must give reasons for not doing so.

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