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Criminal Procedure Act 2011

General provisions - Public access and restrictions on reporting - Power to clear court

197: Power to clear court

You could also call this:

"The court can ask some people to leave the room to keep everyone safe and the trial fair."

Illustration for Criminal Procedure Act 2011

A court can make an order to remove some people from a courtroom. You might be removed if you are not the judge, a jury member, a lawyer, or someone involved in the case. The court can only make this order if it thinks it is necessary to stop something bad from happening, like disrupting the trial or putting someone's safety at risk. The court must be satisfied that removing people from the courtroom is the only way to avoid problems, and that just suppressing some information would not be enough. When the court makes a decision, it usually has to announce it in public, but in some exceptional cases, it might not share all the details of its decision.

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View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM3360340.

Topics:
Crime and justice > Courts and legal helpCrime and justice > Criminal law
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196: Court proceedings generally open to public, or

"Courts are usually open for the public to watch, but sometimes they can be closed for special reasons."

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198: Exception for members of media, or

"Journalists can stay in court even if others are asked to leave"

Part 5General provisions
Public access and restrictions on reporting: Power to clear court

197Power to clear court

  1. A court may make an order excluding from the whole or any part of any proceeding in respect of an offence all or any persons other than the following:

  2. the presiding judicial officer and jury:
    1. the prosecutor:
      1. the defendant and any person who is for the time being acting as custodian of the defendant:
        1. any lawyer engaged in the proceedings:
          1. any officer of the court:
            1. the Police employee in charge of the case.

              1. The court may make an order under subsection (1) only if the court is satisfied that—

              2. the order is necessary to avoid—
                1. undue disruption to the conduct of the proceedings; or
                  1. prejudicing the security or defence of New Zealand; or
                    1. a real risk of prejudice to a fair trial; or
                      1. endangering the safety of any person; or
                        1. prejudicing the maintenance of the law, including the prevention, investigation and detection of offences; and
                        2. a suppression order is not sufficient to avoid that risk.

                          1. Even if an order is made under subsection (1), the announcement of the verdict or decision of the court, and the passing of sentence, must take place in public; but, if the court is satisfied that exceptional circumstances exist, it may decline to state in public all or any of the facts, reasons, or other considerations that it has taken into account in reaching its decision or verdict, or in determining the sentence.

                          2. The power conferred by this section is in substitution for any power to clear the court that a court may have had under any inherent jurisdiction or any rule of law.

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