Criminal Procedure Act 2011

General provisions - Solicitor-General's responsibility for oversight and conduct of certain prosecutions

185: Solicitor-General responsible for general oversight of public prosecutions

You could also call this:

"The Solicitor-General makes sure public prosecutions are fair and done correctly."

Illustration for Criminal Procedure Act 2011

The Solicitor-General is in charge of keeping an eye on how public prosecutions are carried out. You can think of the Solicitor-General as someone who makes sure everything is done fairly and correctly. The Solicitor-General can create guidelines for public prosecutions and give advice to the agencies that handle them.

The Solicitor-General has the power to make sure public prosecutions are done properly, and this includes giving general guidance to the people who work on these cases. This means the Solicitor-General can help the agencies that conduct public prosecutions make good decisions.

The Solicitor-General does not have to watch over every single public prosecution, and they are not responsible for how each individual case is handled.

This text is automatically generated. It might be out of date or be missing some parts. Find out more about how we do this.

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=DLM3360319.

Topics:

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

184: Permanent court record, or

"The court keeps a permanent record of what happens in a case, like a diary of events."

186: Attorney-General's responsibility and powers not affected, or

"The Attorney-General's job and powers stay the same."

Part 5General provisions
Solicitor-General's responsibility for oversight and conduct of certain prosecutions

185Solicitor-General responsible for general oversight of public prosecutions

The Solicitor-General is responsible for maintaining general oversight of the conduct of public prosecutions.
In discharging his or her responsibility under subsection (1), the Solicitor-General may—
maintain guidelines for the conduct of public prosecutions; and
provide general advice and guidance to agencies that conduct public prosecutions on the conduct of those prosecutions.

Nothing in this section requires the Solicitor-General to supervise the conduct of any particular public prosecution or makes the Solicitor-General responsible for the conduct of any public prosecution.