Justice Centre | 19 Aitken Street
DX SX10088 | Wellington
T 04 918 8800 |
F 04 918 8820
[email address] | www.justice.govt.nz
5 September 2024
J Hudson
[FYI request #28012 email]
Ref: OIA 114897
Tēnā koe J Hudson
Official Information Act 1982 request: Remand
I refer to your request under the Official Information Act 1982 (the Act) of 11 August 2024 to
the Department of Corrections (Corrections) for information about remand. On 13 August,
Corrections transferred your request in full to the Ministry of Justice (the Ministry) under
section 14 of the Act. Specifically, the request transferred to the Ministry was:
I would like to know how many people are incarcerated on remand because their bail
was revoked by a judge, only to have the case dismissed with no charges.
This could include:
Judge alone trails where the remanded inmate is dismissed of all charges and
released.
Jury trials where the remanded inmate is dismissed of all charges by a jury of their
peers and released.
The Ministry does not report on people being remanded in custody because their bail was
revoked by a judge, only to have the case dismissed with no charges.
A person can be remanded on bail or in custody at different times, throughout their case.
They can also be facing multiple charges, which can have different outcomes. Convictions
can be entered on some charges and other charges could be dismissed
Providing this information would require a complex query and/or specialised knowledge to
extract the information from the Case Management System. The Act enables people to
request official information from Ministers and agencies, including the Ministry. However, the
OIA only applies to information that is already held, and the Ministry is not required to create
information in order to respond to a request. To gather this information the Ministry would need
to create a new reporting category, which is outside of the scope of the Act.
I am therefore refusing your request under section 18(g)(i) of the Act, as the information
requested is not held by the Ministry and there are no grounds for believing it is held by
another agency subject to the Act.
Please note that this response, with your personal details removed, may be published on the
Ministry website at: justice.govt.nz/about/official-information-act-requests/oia-responses/
If you are not satisfied with this response, you have the right to make a complaint to the
Ombudsman under section 28(3) of the Act. The Ombudsman may be contacted by phone
on 0800 802 602 or by email to [email address]
Nāku noa, nā
Jacquelyn Shannon
Group Manager, Regional Service Delivery
