Minimum period of imprisonment
Marcus W made this Official Information request to Ministry of Justice
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From: Marcus W
Tēnā koe Ministry of Justice,
I am writing to request information under the Official Information Act 1982 regarding minimum periods of imprisonment (MPI) under s 86 of the Sentencing Act 2002. Essentially, my request can be summarised to two key points:
(1) First, please disclose data that the Ministry has regarding the number of MPIs imposed by Judges every year from 2002 up to the most recent data, presumably 2024.
(2) Second, please disclose the number of successful appeals where MPIs have been quashed by an appellate court. I note that such appeals are treated as appeals against sentence. It would be greatly appreciated if this request could be broken down by year and Court level too if possible. The date for this request can be from 2010 onwards.
Please feel free to contact me if clarification is required. I am happy to refine the scope if needed to assist with the request. It is my understanding that no such request has been made to the Ministry of Justice before. It would be greatly appreciated if such information could be duly provided.
In the event the Ministry does not have the information dating back to the request dates above, please provide the data that goes back the furtherest. For example, if the oldest data is from 2010, please disclose the data from 2010 onwards.
Ngā mihi,
Marcus W
From: OIA@justice.govt.nz
Ministry of Justice
Tēnā koe,
Thank you for contacting the [1][Ministry of Justice request email] mailbox at the
Ministry of Justice.
This automatic message is to confirm we have received your email - we hope
to acknowledge you and advise next steps within two working days.
Please note that this mailbox is not monitored on weekends, public
holidays or between 17:00 and 08:00 hours on working days.
Official Information Act requests can take up to 20 working days to
receive a response. If the Ministry needs more time, we will inform you.
.
Ngā mihi,
Communications and Ministerial Services | Corporate Services
Ministry of Justice
Justice Centre I Aitken Street
DX Box SX 10088 I Wellington
[2]www.justice.govt.nz
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From: OIA@justice.govt.nz
Ministry of Justice
Tēnā koe Marcus,
Thank you for emailing the Ministry of Justice (the Ministry).
We acknowledge receipt of your request under the Official Information Act
1982. Specifically, you requested:
1. First, please disclose data that the Ministry has regarding the number
of MPIs imposed by Judges every year from 2002 up to the most recent
data, presumably 2024.
2. Second, please disclose the number of successful appeals where MPIs
have been quashed by an appellate court. I note that such appeals are
treated as appeals against sentence. It would be greatly appreciated
if this request could be broken down by year and Court level too if
possible. The date for this request can be from 2010 onwards.
This has been forwarded onto the relevant business unit to respond to.
The Ministry may publish the response to your request on our website, you
can expect that if your OIA is to be published that this will take place
at least 10 working days after it has been sent you. Your name and any
other personal information will be withheld under Section 9(2)(a) (protect
the privacy of natural persons).
You can expect a response by 11 July 2025.
Ngā mihi nui,
Ministerial Services
Communications and Ministerial Services | Corporate Services
Ministry of Justice | Tāhū o te Ture [1]justice.govt.nz
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From: OIA@justice.govt.nz
Ministry of Justice
Tçnâ koe Marcus,
Thank you for your request of 12 June 2025 to the Ministry of Justice (the
Ministry), requesting, under the Official Information Act 1982 (the Act),
information regarding the minimum period of imprisonment. Specifically,
you requested:
(1) First, please disclose data that the Ministry has regarding the number
of MPIs imposed by Judges every year from 2002 up to the most recent data,
presumably 2024.
(2) Second, please disclose the number of successful appeals where MPIs
have been quashed by an appellate court. I note that such appeals are
treated as appeals against sentence. It would be greatly appreciated if
this request could be broken down by year and Court level too if possible.
The date for this request can be from 2010 onwards.
Section 12(2) of the Act requires that the information sought must be
“specified with due particularity”, which means the Ministry must be
reasonably able to identify what information is being requested by you.
In its current form, it is unclear as to what information you are seeking.
Therefore, in line with section 15(1AA) of the Act, the Ministry is
seeking to clarify your request. Please can you confirm:
1. For question 1, you refer to "Minimum Periods of Imprisonment (MPIs)"
imposed by judges. Could you please confirm whether you are referring
to non-parole periods?
2. Also, for question 1, where you request data that the Ministry has
regarding the number of MPIs imposed by Judges every year. Are you
seeking this information to be reported at the level of individual
charges/offences, or at the individual defendant level?
3. For question 2, concerning successful appeals:
o “The number of successful appeals where MPIs have been quashed by an
appellate court”. As “quashed” is one of possible charge outcome
status, could you please confirm whether the number of quashed charge
outcomes involving MPIs is sufficient to meet the requirements of
this request?
o Could you please clarify whether you are seeking information on
successful appeals against sentence, appeals against conviction, or
both in which MPI was imposed and charge outcome was quashed?
o or do you seek information on all successful sentence appeals,
appeals against conviction, or both, regardless of whether the MPI
was imposed and charge outcome quashed?
We would appreciate it if you could respond by no later than Monday 23
June 2025, with your clarified request.
Please note that as the Ministry has sought to clarify your request within
the first seven working days, on receipt of the confirmed scope, the
timeline to respond to you may reset under section 15(1) of the Act.
You have the right under section 28 of the Act to seek a review of this
decision in the handling of your request from the Ombudsman. The
Ombudsman’s contact details are available at: [1]Contact the Ombudsman |
Ombudsman New Zealand
Thank you for your help with this.
Ngâ mihi,
Communications and Ministerial Services | Corporate Services
Ministry of Justice | Tâhû o te Ture
Justice Centre | 19 Aitken Street, Wellington (6011)
[2][email address]
[3][email address]
[4][Ministry of Justice request email]
[5]justice.govt.nz
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From: Marcus W
Tēnā koe Ministry of Justice
Thanks for your response. I've answered your question below in line with your points.
1. You’ve asked whether, by MPI, I am referring to non-parole periods. The answer is not exactly. Under s 84 of the Parole Act 2002, the default non-parole period is one-third of the sentence. However, under s 86 of the Sentencing Act 2002, a judge can impose a MPI. By doing so, the judge specifies that the offender must serve more than the standard one-third before being eligible for parole. For example, if the sentence is 12 years, the default non-parole period would be 4 years (one-third). But if the judge imposes a 50% MPI, the offender must serve 6 years before parole eligibility. So, to clarify my question, I am seeking data on how often judges have imposed MPIs - essentially how many cases where they have overridden the default non-parole period and set a longer minimum term.
2. Regarding question 2, I am just seeking how many MPIs have been imposed by a Judge at a defendant's sentencing. In other words, just more generally. How many MPIs are imposed in cases every year. I do not need that to be broken by charge or at a defendant level.
3. I am not seeking data on how many convictions have been quashed. I am only interested in how many appeals have been successful in removing an MPI imposed by a sentencing judge - by appeals, I mean appeals against sentence. To answer the second part of your question, I am specifically asking for information on successful sentence appeals where the MPI was removed/quashed. I am not concerned with cases where an MPI was removed as a consequence of a successful conviction appeal, as that would mean the MPI was set aside only because the conviction itself was overturned.
Ngā mihi
Marcus W
From: OIA@justice.govt.nz
Ministry of Justice
Tēnā koe Marcus,
Thank you for your clarification email of 22 June 2025.
Please note that under section 15(1AA) of the Act, on receipt of your
rescoped request, it becomes a new request for the purposes of the Act and
resets the timeline. The Ministry is working on our response to you and
our new due date to respond is 18 July 2025.
Ngā mihi,
Communications and Ministerial Services | Corporate Services
Ministry of Justice | Tāhū o te Ture
Justice Centre | 19 Aitken Street, Wellington (6011)
[1][email address]
[2][email address]
[3][Ministry of Justice request email]
[4]justice.govt.nz
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From: OIA@justice.govt.nz
Ministry of Justice
Tēnā koe Marcus,
Please find attached the Ministry’s response to your clarification email of 22 June 2025.
Ngā mihi,
Communications and Ministerial Services | Corporate Services
Ministry of Justice | Tāhū o te Ture
Justice Centre | 19 Aitken Street, Wellington (6011)
[email address]
[email address]
[Ministry of Justice request email]
justice.govt.nz
show quoted sections
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