C Lane OIA response 30.7.25.pdf

25 July 2025

C Lane
[FYI request #30978 email]

Tēnā koe C Lane,

Thank you for your correspondence which the New Zealand Parole Board (the Board) has
treated as an Official Information Request.
Please ﬁnd below the Board’s responses to each of your queries.
The total number of life sentenced (non-parole period) people who appeared before the
Parole Board per annum, as far back as 2014 records. Please break this down by ethnicity
and gender.
Due to how the data is recorded, the below data relates to the number of hearings for people
subject to life sentences rather than the number of people. Some individuals wil have appeared
before the Board more than once in a year.

PO Box 939, Wellington
Email [New Zealand Parole Board request email]; website www.paroleboard.govt.nz
0800 PAROLE 0800 727 653

Total number of life sentenced people who appeared
before the Board. Recorded gender: female
E
Mā
ur
Pa
T
Recorded
o
o
o
p
ci
ta
Ethnicity
ri
e
ﬁ

an
c
l

2014
14
3
-
17
2015
14
4
-
18
2016
18
10
-
28
2017
12
10
-
22
2018
12
6
-
18
2019
14
6
-
20
2020
10
10
-
20
2021
13
7
-
20
2022
20
7
-
27
2023
21
-
-
21
2024
19
4
-
23
2025 - 31/05/2025
6
2
1
9

Total number of life sentenced people who appeared before the Board.
Recorded gender: male
O
N
the
ot
r (
re
E
i
c
Mā
u
nc
o
r
Pa
rd
T
Recorded
o
l
o
o
p
ci
ud
ed
ta
Ethnicity
ri
e
ﬁ

an
c
in
/u
l

g
n
A
k
si
no
an)
w

n
2014
142
110
38
3
2
295
2015
147
120
28
1
1
297
2016
126
104
24
1
1
256
2017
118
99
27
5
1
250
2018
125
74
27
-
1
227
2019
144
85
41
-
2
272
2020
151
96
42
-
3
292
2021
182
125
53
-
2
362
2022
208
105
59
2
3
377
2023
188
111
41
5
2
347
2024
185
120
53
3
1
362
2025 - 31/05/2025
74
60
21
1
2
158
PO Box 939, Wellington
Email [New Zealand Parole Board request email]; website www.paroleboard.govt.nz
0800 PAROLE 0800 727 653

The total number of life sentenced people who have been granted parole per annum, as far
back as 2014 records permit. Please break this down by ethnicity and gender.
Total number of life sentenced people who were granted
parole. Recorded gender: female
M
E
P
T
ā
u
a
o
or
ro
c
tal
i
pe
ific

Recorded Ethnicity

a

n
2014
5
1
-
6
2015
7
1
-
8
2016
12
6
-
18
2017
5
4
-
9
2018
4
2
-
6
2019
10
4
-
14
2020
7
4
-
11
2021
2
6
-
8
2022
9
6
-
15
2023
8
-
-
8
2024
7
1
-
8
2025 - 31/05/2025
2
1
-
3

Total number of life sentenced people who were granted parole. Recorded gender:
male
g (in
Mā
Eu
Pa
d r
ro
a
O
/u e
T
c
c
si l the
c N
n
o
Recorded Ethnicity
o
n
u
o o
t
ri
p
iﬁ
a d
k rd
n
t
a

ea
c
l

n) in r

o e

2014
31
31
10
3
-
75
2015
34
38
7
1
-
80
2016
33
28
1
1
-
63
2017
23
32
5
3
-
63
2018
30
34
5
2
-
71
2019
57
28
10
-
-
95
2020
43
38
7
-
1
89
2021
65
54
17
-
-
136
2022
72
40
26
-
2
140
2023
71
32
19
7
1
130
2024
66
41
17
2
1
127
2025 - 31/05/2025
29
28
6
1
2
66

PO Box 939, Wellington
Email [New Zealand Parole Board request email]; website www.paroleboard.govt.nz
0800 PAROLE 0800 727 653

The success rate of applications for life sentenced parole, broken down by the application
attempt number (i.e. successful attempt rate at ﬁrst parole application, second
application etc.). Please break this down per annum as far back as 2014 records permit.
Please break this down by ethnicity and gender.
Offenders do not apply for parole, rather they become eligible to be considered for parole and
have a hearing before the Board as soon as is practicable after their parole eligibility date and
thereafter as set by the Board in accordance with the Parole Act 2002 (“the Act”).

First approved hearing number
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10  11

Ethnicity
European
19%  25%  21%  17%  15%  2%
2%

Māori
6%
31%  13%  16%  11%  10%  5%
3%  3%  0%  2%
Paciﬁc
5%
26%  21%  16%  16%  0%
16%
Other (incl. Asian)
30%  40%  20%  0%
0%
10%

Gender
Female
25%  38%  13%  0%
0%
13%  13%
Male
12%  28%  17%  17%  13%  5%
4%
1%  1%  0%  1%

PO Box 939, Wellington
Email [New Zealand Parole Board request email]; website www.paroleboard.govt.nz
0800 PAROLE 0800 727 653

The total number of life sentenced (with non-parole periods) people granted ﬁrst parole (on
ﬁrst appearance). Please break this down per annum as far back as 2014.
First approved hearing number

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10  11
Hearing Year

2015-2016
67%  17%  17%

2016-2017
14%  43%  29%  14%

2017-2018
11%  33%  33%  11%  0%
11%

2018-2019
30%  20%  20%  15%  15%

2019-2020
0%
33%  25%  33%  8%

2020-2021
28%  22%  17%  0%
11%  17%  6%

2021-2022
0%
24%  14%  24%  19%  0%
14%  0%  5%
2022-2023
0%
33%  10%  14%  10%  14%  10%  5%  0%  0%  5%
2023-2024
7%
29%  7%
21%  36%

2024-2025
0%
44%  13%  19%  6%
0%
6%
6%  6%

The total number of life sentenced people to apply for an early parole hearing before
reaching ﬁrst parole, including success rates, and if possible, reasons for granting early
hearing. Please break this down per annum as far back as 2014.
The Board has no record of any life sentenced people applying for an early parole hearing before
reaching ﬁrst parole since 2014.
The total number and type of life parole conditions handed down per annum, as far back as
2014 records permit. Please break this down by ethnicity and gender, if possible.
Under section 15 of the Act the Board may impose special conditions provided they are
designed to reduce the risk of reoffending, facilitate or promote the rehabilitation or
reintegration of the offender, or provide for the reasonable concerns of the victim. Special
conditions can relate to but are not limited to the fol owing:
•  Residence
•  Whereabouts
•  Programmes or counsel ing
•  Employment
•  Non-associations with individuals or groups of people
•  Substance use
•  Further monitoring hearings with the Board.
PO Box 939, Wellington
Email [New Zealand Parole Board request email]; website www.paroleboard.govt.nz
0800 PAROLE 0800 727 653

Standard conditions under section 14 of the Act are imposed on al  life parolees, unless there is
a special condition imposed which is incompatible with the standard conditions.
The Board however does not capture the number or type of life parole conditions imposed. To
provide an exact number would require a manual review of al  life parole hearings. Accordingly,
your request is declined under section 18(f) of the Official Information Act 1982, as the
information requested cannot be made available without substantial manual col ation or
research. I've considered whether ﬁxing a charge/extending the time limit would enable your
request to be granted but in my view it would not.

At what point does The Parole Board order life sentenced parolees to be banned or
forbidden from certain locations? What is the jurisdiction and criteria to make such order?
Who makes this decision, is it solely the Board or victims request etc?
Under section 15 of the Act, the Board may impose special conditions which prohibit offenders
from entering or remaining in speciﬁed places or areas, at speciﬁed times or at al  times. This
could include not being able to enter a speciﬁc town, region or other geographic area. This can
also include types of locations such as schools, or licenced premises.
Factors the Board must take into account when considering a condition like this is if excluding
the offender from the area would reduce their risk of reoffending, facilitate or promote the
rehabilitation and reintegration of the offender, or provide for the reasonable concerns of the
victim.
A victim may make submissions to the Board and include areas they may wish for the offender
to be restricted from. The Board wil  take these submissions into account in their deliberations.

What grounds can parolees dispute such order being made?
Offenders may provide their views on any proposed conditions prior to the hearing by way of
written submissions to the Board and/or oral submissions during their hearing.
Under section 67(3) of the Act they may also apply for a review of their decision if they believe
the Board in making their decision:
a) failed to comply with the procedures set out in this Act and any regulations made under it; or
(b) made an error of law; or
(c) failed to comply with a policy of the Board developed under section 109(2)(a), which resulted
in unfairness to the offender; or
(d) based its decision on erroneous or irrelevant information that was material to the decision
reached; or
(e) acted without jurisdiction.

I trust the information provided is of assistance. Should you have any concerns with this
response, I would encourage you to raise these with the Board. Alternatively you are advised of
PO Box 939, Wellington
Email [New Zealand Parole Board request email]; website www.paroleboard.govt.nz
0800 PAROLE 0800 727 653

your right to also raise any concerns with the Office of the Ombudsman. Contact details are:
Office of the Ombudsman, PO Box 10152, Wel ington 6143.

Ngā mihi,

The Honourable J M Doogue
Chairperson
New Zealand Parole Board

PO Box 939, Wellington
Email [New Zealand Parole Board request email]; website www.paroleboard.govt.nz
0800 PAROLE 0800 727 653