The Sentencing Act 2002: Monitoring the First Year

Source: (2004) New Zealand: Ministry of Justice. Downloaded 15 April 2005.

The Sentencing Act 2002, together with the Parole Act 2002, came into force on 30 June
2002. The two acts represented a comprehensive reform of the laws relating to sentencing
and parole as contained in the Criminal Justice Act 1985 (“the CJA”). This report considers
the impact that the Sentencing Act 2002 (“the Act”) has had on sentencing practice during the
12 months since it came into force, in terms of the key changes that were made to sentencing
policy.
The report draws on an extensive review of judgments delivered by the courts at all levels and
an analysis of statistics on a before and after basis. We have presented the last 5 years’
statistics, as it is often the case that announced policy changes start to have an impact prior to
coming into force. The report also provides a general snap shot of sentencing statistics in the
year following the Act’s coming into force. (excerpt)