Armed Forces Discipline Act 1971

Offences - Offences involving treachery, cowardice, and looting

30: Offences in relation to capture by the enemy

You could also call this:

"Breaking rules if captured by the enemy can lead to prison time"

Illustration for Armed Forces Discipline Act 1971

You can commit an offence if you are captured by the enemy because you did not take reasonable precautions or you neglected your duty. If this happens, you could go to prison for up to 10 years. You must try to do the right thing to stay safe. If you are captured by the enemy, you must try to rejoin the Armed Forces. If you do not, you could go to prison for up to 5 years. This is because you should try to get back to your team. If you are captured and do something to hurt your fellow prisoners to get special treatment, you could go to prison for up to 10 years. You could also go to prison if you are in charge of other prisoners and treat them badly. If you stop someone else from trying to rejoin the Armed Forces, you could also go to prison for up to 10 years.

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View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM402700.

This page was last updated on 1 January 2026 — View changes

Topics:

Crime and justice > Criminal law

29: Offence to create alarm or despondency, or

"Spreading false information that scares people during war is against the law"

31: Looting, or

"Stealing from people or taking things that don't belong to you during a war is called looting"

Part 2Offences
Offences involving treachery, cowardice, and looting

30Offences in relation to capture by the enemy

Every person subject to this Act commits an offence, and is liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 10 years, who is captured by the enemy either—
as a result of failing to take reasonable precautions; or
by reason of wilful neglect of duty.

Every person subject to this Act commits an offence, and is liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 5 years, who, having been captured by the enemy, fails to take reasonable steps to rejoin the Armed Forces.
Every person subject to this Act commits an offence, and is liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 10 years, who, having been captured by the enemy—
with intent to secure favourable treatment for himself from the enemy,—
1. does any act to the detriment of his fellow prisoners; or
2. omits to do an act with the result that his fellow prisoners are detrimentally affected; or
when in a position of authority over other prisoners, ill-treats any of them; or
discourages or knowingly prevents any other person subject to this Act from taking reasonable steps to rejoin the Armed Forces.