Parole Act 2002

Parole and other release from detention - Sentence calculation - Start date of sentence of imprisonment

79: Start date if later sentence replaces original sentence

You could also call this:

"When you get a new sentence to replace an old one, it starts on the same day as the old sentence."

If you get a new sentence because your old one was cancelled or changed on appeal, your new sentence starts on the same day your old one started. You had an original sentence, and now you have a new one, so the start date is the same as the original sentence. This is what happens when your original sentence is replaced.

If your sentence stopped because your conviction was cancelled and you had to go to court again, and then you got a new sentence, the start date of your new sentence is the same as your old one. You might have had to serve your original sentence at the same time as another sentence, but your new sentence might not have this condition. In this case, your new sentence starts on the day your original sentence would have started if it didn't have to be served at the same time as the other sentence.

When a sentence is substituted for an original sentence, the start date is the same as the original sentence, as stated in section 28 of the Parole (Extended Supervision) Amendment Act 2004. This means you start serving your new sentence from the same day you started your original sentence. The rules about when your sentence starts are important to understand.

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This page was last updated on 29 June 2025

View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM139327.

Topics:

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

78: Deferred start date, or

"When your prison sentence starts later than expected"

80: Start date after temporary surrender to New Zealand, or

"When you're sent back to New Zealand to serve your prison sentence after being in another country"

Part 1Parole and other release from detention
Sentence calculation: Start date of sentence of imprisonment

79Start date if later sentence replaces original sentence

The start date of a sentence that is substituted for a sentence that was quashed or otherwise set aside on appeal (the original sentence) is the start date of the original sentence.
If a sentence (the original sentence) ceases to apply because the conviction to which it relates is quashed and a retrial ordered, and if a sentence of imprisonment is imposed following the retrial, the start date of the later sentence is the start date of the original sentence.
In either situation referred to in subsection (1) or subsection (2), if the original sentence was directed to be served cumulatively on another sentence but the later sentence is not directed to be served cumulatively, then the start date of the later sentence is the start date that the original sentence would have had if it had not been directed to be served cumulatively.

Notes

Section 79: substituted, on 7 July 2004, by section 28 of the Parole (Extended Supervision) Amendment Act 2004 (2004 No 67).