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Corrections Act 2004

Corrections system - Miscellaneous - Information sharing about highest-risk offenders

181A: Disclosure of information relating to highest-risk offenders

You could also call this:

"Sharing information about serious offenders to keep you and your community safe"

When you are dealing with people who have committed serious crimes, some agencies can share information about them. This is to help keep you and your community safe. These agencies can share personal information about the offenders, but only if it is to help with certain things.

You might wonder what these things are. They include helping the offenders follow the rules when they are released from prison. They also include helping the offenders to change their behaviour and become part of the community again.

Some agencies can share this information, like the Department of Corrections and the New Zealand Police. Other agencies might also be able to share this information, but they need to be chosen by the Minister of Justice. The Minister will talk to the Privacy Commissioner before making this decision.

The Privacy Act 2020 still applies when agencies share this information. This means that agencies must still follow the rules about how to handle personal information.

Agencies can share this information before the offender is released from prison. This is to help keep you and your community safe. If an offender has committed a serious crime, like a child sex offence, and is also a highest-risk offender, agencies can still share information about them.

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View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM1955968.

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Part 2Corrections system
Miscellaneous: Information sharing about highest-risk offenders

181ADisclosure of information relating to highest-risk offenders

  1. A specified agency that enters into an information sharing agreement under section 182D (as modified by subsection (5)) with another specified agency is authorised to disclose to that agency any personal information about a highest-risk offender, but only if the disclosure is for, or relates to, a purpose listed in subsection (3).

  2. Nothing in subsection (1) limits the operation of the Privacy Act 2020 or section 182 of this Act.

  3. The purposes for which personal information about highest-risk offenders may be disclosed under an information sharing agreement between specified agencies are—

  4. to assist the monitoring of compliance of highest-risk offenders with their conditions of release:
    1. to assist in facilitating the rehabilitation of highest-risk offenders:
      1. to facilitate the reintegration of highest-risk offenders into the community:
        1. to manage the risk that the offender may commit further offences:
          1. to identify any increased risk that the offender may breach his or her conditions or will commit further offences.

            1. For the purposes of this section,—

              highest-risk offender means any offender whom the chief executive considers, having regard, among other matters, to the nature and seriousness of his or her offending, to be included in the class of offenders who pose the highest risk to public safety

                specified agency means—

                1. the Department of Corrections:
                  1. the New Zealand Police:
                    1. any public sector agency (as that term is defined in section 7(1) of the Privacy Act 2020) that the Minister of Justice, after consultation with the Privacy Commissioner, identifies as a specified agency for the purposes of this section by notice in the Gazette.

                    2. Sections 182D and 182E apply to information sharing agreements about highest-risk offenders as if every reference in those sections to a child sex offender were a reference to a highest-risk offender.

                    3. Information disclosed for the purposes of this section may be disclosed prior to the offender’s release from prison.

                    4. This section does not limit or affect any information sharing agreement under section 182D in relation to a child sex offender who is also a highest-risk offender.

                    Notes
                    • Section 181A: inserted, on , by section 31 of the Corrections Amendment Act 2009 (2009 No 3).
                    • Section 181A(2): amended, on , by section 217 of the Privacy Act 2020 (2020 No 31).
                    • Section 181A(4) specified agency paragraph (c): amended, on , by section 217 of the Privacy Act 2020 (2020 No 31).