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Crimes Act 1961

Crimes against morality and decency, sexual crimes, and crimes against public welfare - Sexual crimes

131B: Meeting young person following sexual grooming, etc

You could also call this:

"It's against the law to meet a young person under 16 if you plan to do something illegal with them."

Illustration for Crimes Act 1961

If you meet or talk to someone under 16 years old, then do something like meet them in person, travel to meet them, or get them to travel to meet you, you could go to prison for up to 7 years. This can happen if you intend to do something to the young person that would be against the law in New Zealand, or if you want the young person to do something to you that would be against the law. You can be considered to have met a young person even if it was actually a police officer pretending to be a young person, as long as you thought you were talking to someone under 16.

If you are charged with this crime, you might be able to defend yourself if you can prove that you tried to find out how old the young person was before you did anything, and you honestly believed they were 16 or older at the time. This defence can help you if you took reasonable steps to check the young person's age and you had good reasons to think they were old enough. You will need to show that you did everything you could to make sure the young person was 16 or older before you did anything that might be against the law.

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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=DLM329200.

Topics:
Crime and justice > Criminal lawFamily and relationships > Children and parenting
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131AB: Grooming for sexual conduct with young person, or

"An adult who tries to make friends with a child under 16 to do sexual things with them is breaking the law."

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132: Sexual conduct with child under 12, or

"The law punishes adults who do sexual things with children younger than 12 years old."

Part 7Crimes against morality and decency, sexual crimes, and crimes against public welfare
Sexual crimes

131BMeeting young person following sexual grooming, etc

  1. Every person is liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 7 years if,—

  2. having met or communicated with a person under the age of 16 years (the young person) on an earlier occasion, he or she takes one of the following actions:
    1. intentionally meets the young person:
      1. travels with the intention of meeting the young person:
        1. arranges for or persuades the young person to travel with the intention of meeting him or her; and
        2. at the time of taking the action, he or she intends—
          1. to take in respect of the young person an action that, if taken in New Zealand, would be an offence against this Part, or against any of paragraphs (a)(i), (d)(i), (e)(i), (f)(i), of section 98AA(1); or
            1. that the young person should do on him or her an act the doing of which would, if he or she permitted it to be done in New Zealand, be an offence against this Part on his or her part.

            2. A reference in this section to a young person under the age of 16 years or the young person includes a reference to a constable who pretends to be a young person under the age of 16 years (the fictitious young person) if the offender, when taking any of the actions described in subsection (1), believed that the fictitious young person was a young person under the age of 16 years.

            3. It is a defence to a charge under subsection (1) if the person charged proves that,—

            4. before the time he or she took the action concerned, he or she had taken reasonable steps to find out whether the young person was of or over the age of 16 years; and
              1. at the time he or she took the action concerned, he or she believed on reasonable grounds that the young person was of or over the age of 16 years.

                Notes
                • Section 131B: inserted, on , by section 7 of the Crimes Amendment Act 2005 (2005 No 41).
                • Section 131B heading: amended, on , by section 5(1) of the Crimes Amendment Act (No 3) 2011 (2011 No 79).
                • Section 131B(1A): inserted, on , by section 5(2) of the Crimes Amendment Act (No 3) 2011 (2011 No 79).