Bail Act 2000

General provisions regarding bail

11: Restriction on bail if defendant with previous conviction for specified offence found guilty or pleads guilty to further specified offence

You could also call this:

"No bail if you've committed a serious crime before and do it again"

If you are 18 years or older and you plead guilty to or are found guilty of a specified offence, you cannot be granted bail if you have been convicted of a specified offence before. This means you will have to stay in custody while you wait to be sentenced. You can find out what a specified offence is by looking at section 10(2). If you are 17 years old and you plead guilty to or are found guilty of a specified offence in the District Court or the High Court, and you have been convicted of a specified offence before, you also cannot be granted bail.

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This page was last updated on 8 December 2025

View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM68910.

Topics:

Crime and justice > Courts and legal helpCrime and justice > Police and safety

10: Restriction on bail if defendant with previous conviction for specified offence charged with further specified offence, or

"No bail if you've committed a similar serious crime before"

12: Further restriction on bail in certain cases, or

"Rules for bail when charged with a serious crime"

Part 1General provisions regarding bail

11Restriction on bail if defendant with previous conviction for specified offence found guilty or pleads guilty to further specified offence

No defendant of or over the age of 18 years who is found guilty of, or pleads guilty to, a specified offence (as defined in section 10(2)) and who has 1 or more previous convictions for a specified offence (whether those convictions were for the same specified offence or for different specified offences) may, while waiting to be sentenced or otherwise dealt with for the first-mentioned specified offence, be granted bail or allowed to go at large.
No defendant aged 17 years who is found guilty of, or pleads guilty to, a specified offence in the District Court or the High Court and who has 1 or more previous convictions for a specified offence (whether those convictions were for the same specified offence or for different specified offences) may, while waiting to be sentenced or otherwise dealt with for the first-mentioned specified offence, be granted bail or allowed to go at large.

Compare

1961 No 43 s 318(6)

Notes

Section 11(1): amended, on 1 July 2019, by section 20(1) of the Oranga Tamariki Legislation Act 2019 (2019 No 30).
Section 11(2): inserted, on 1 July 2019, by section 20(2) of the Oranga Tamariki Legislation Act 2019 (2019 No 30).