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Criminal Procedure Act 2011

General provisions - Public access and restrictions on reporting - Suppression of evidence and submissions

205: Court may suppress evidence and submissions

You could also call this:

"Court can keep some information secret to protect people or fairness"

Illustration for Criminal Procedure Act 2011

A court can stop people from reporting on some or all of the evidence given or submissions made in a court case about an offence. You might wonder why a court would do this. The court can only make this order if it thinks that reporting on the case would cause problems, such as hurting a victim, making a fair trial impossible, or putting someone's safety at risk.

The court also considers other factors, like whether reporting would reveal the identity of someone whose name is supposed to be secret, or whether it would hinder the police from investigating crimes. Additionally, the court thinks about whether reporting would compromise New Zealand's security or defence.

If you want to learn more about how this law has changed over time, you can compare it to an earlier version, such as the one found in s 138(2)(a) of a 1985 law.

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View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM3360354.

Topics:
Crime and justice > Criminal lawCrime and justice > Courts and legal help
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204: Automatic suppression of identity of child complainants and witnesses, or

"Protecting the identity of young people in court cases"

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206: Power of Registrar to make and renew interim suppression orders, or

"A court Registrar can stop some information from being shared for a short time when you first appear in court."

Part 5General provisions
Public access and restrictions on reporting: Suppression of evidence and submissions

205Court may suppress evidence and submissions

  1. A court may make an order forbidding publication of any report or account of the whole or any part of the evidence adduced or the submissions made in any proceeding in respect of an offence.

  2. The court may make an order under subsection (1) only if the court is satisfied that publication would be likely to—

  3. cause undue hardship to any victim of the offence; or
    1. create a real risk of prejudice to a fair trial; or
      1. endanger the safety of any person; or
        1. lead to the identification of a person whose name is suppressed by order or by law; or
          1. prejudice the maintenance of the law, including the prevention, investigation, and detection of offences; or
            1. prejudice the security or defence of New Zealand.

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