Crimes Act 1961
| Crimes Act | |
|---|---|
 | |
| New Zealand Parliament | |
| An Act to consolidate and amend the Crimes Act 1908 and certain other enactments of the Parliament of New Zealand relating to crimes and other offences | |
| Date of Royal Assent | 1 November 1961 |
| Date commenced | 1 January 1962 |
| Amendments | |
|
Crimes (Substituted Section 59) Amendment Act 2007 Crimes Amendment Act (No 2) 2008 | |
| Status: Current legislation | |
The Crimes Act 1961 is an Act of the Parliament of New Zealand that forms a leading part of the criminal law in New Zealand. It repeals the Crimes Act 1908, itself a successor of the Criminal Code Act 1893, and partially codifies the criminal law in New Zealand. Most crimes in New Zealand are created by the Crimes Act, but some are created elsewhere. All common law offences are abolished by section 9, as are all offences against Acts of the British Parliaments, but section 20 saves the old common law defences where they are not specifically altered.
The Act is administered by the Ministry of Justice.
Scheme of the act
- Preliminary provisions (sections 1 to 4): Bill title, date of commencement, and interpretation.
- Part 1 (sections 5 to 12): Jurisdiction
- Part 2 (sections 13 to 19): Punishments – includes death (repealed in 1989), imprisonment, putting under bond (repealed 1985), and fine
- Part 3 (sections 20 to 65): Matters of justification or excuse – includes infancy, insanity, compulsion, ignorance of law, sentence or process, arrest, use of force, breach of the peace, defence against assault, defence of property, peaceable entry, powers of discipline, surgical procedures, and other general provisions.
- Part 4 (sections 66 to 72): Parties to the commission of offences
- Part 5 (sections 73 to 98F): Crimes against public order – includes treason and other crimes against the Queen and the State; offence of oath to commit offence; unlawful assemblies, riots, and breaches of the peace; piracy; slave dealing; participation in criminal gang; and smuggling and trafficking in people.
- Part 6 (sections 99 to 122): Crimes affecting the administration of law and justice – includes bribery and corruption; contravention of statute; misleading justice; and escapes and rescues
- Part 7 (sections 123 to 150): Crimes against religion, morality, and public welfare – includes crimes against religion; crimes against morality and decency; sexual crimes; sexual offences outside New Zealand; and crimes against public welfare.
- Part 8 (sections 150A to 210A): Crimes against the person – includes duties tending to the preservation of life; homicide; murder and manslaughter; abortion; assaults and injuries to the person; female genital mutilation; bigamy and feigned marriage; and abduction and kidnapping.
- Part 9 (sections 211 to 216): Crimes against reputation. This part was repealed by the Defamation Act 1992.
- Part 9A (sections 216A to 216N): Crimes against personal privacy
Selected offences and maximum penalties
| Section(s) of Act | Offence | Maximum penalty (imprisonment) |
|---|---|---|
| 73–75 | Treason -- conspiracy or attempt | Life imprisonment 14 years |
| 77 | Mutiny | 10 years |
| 78 | Espionage | 14 years |
| 79 | Sabotage | 10 years |
| 87 | Riot | 2 years |
| 92–94 | Piracy | 14 years |
| 98 | Dealing in slaves | 14 years |
| 98A | Participation in organised criminal group | 10 years |
| 98C | Smuggling migrants | 20 years |
| 108–109 | Perjury | 7 to 14 years |
| 119 | Breaking prison | 7 years |
| 123 | Blasphemy | 1 year |
| 128–128B | Sexual violation (incl. rape) | 20 years |
| 130 | Incest | 10 years |
| 131 | Sexual conduct with dependent family member -- sexual connection -- attempted sexual connection -- indecent act | 7 years 7 years 3 years |
| 131B | Meeting young person following sexual grooming, etc. | 7 years |
| 132 | Sexual conduct with a child under 12 -- sexual connection -- attempted sexual connection -- indecent act | 14 years 10 years 10 years |
| 134 | Sexual conduct with a young person under 16 -- sexual connection -- attempted sexual connection -- indecent act | 10 years 10 years 7 years |
| 135 | Indecent assault | 7 years |
| 143 | Bestiality | 7 years |
| 144A | Sexual conduct with children and young people outside New Zealand | as per sections 132 and 134 |
| 144C | Organising or promoting child sex tours | 7 years |
| 150 | Misconduct in respect to human remains (illegal exhumation, necrophilia) | 2 years |
| 168–169, 172 | Murder | Life imprisonment |
| 171, 177 | Manslaughter | Life imprisonment |
| 178 | Infanticide | 3 years |
| 179 | Aiding and abetting suicide (euthanasia) | 14 years |
| 182 | Killing unborn child | 14 years |
| 188 | Wounding with intent | 7 to 14 years |
| 192 | Aggravated assault | 3 years |
| 198 | Discharging firearm or doing dangerous act with intent | 7 to 14 years |
| 198B | Commission of crime with firearm | 10 years |
| 204A-204B | Female genital mutilation and ancillary offences | 7 years |
| 206 | Bigamy | 2 to 14 years |
| 220–223 | Theft or stealing -- by persons in special relationship -- value $1001 or more -- value $501 to $1000 -- value up to $500 | 7 years 7 years 1 year 3 months |
| 231 | Burglary | 10 years |
| 234 | Robbery | 10 years |
| 243 | Money laundering | 5 to 7 years |
| 250 | Damaging or interfering with computer system | 7 to 10 years |
| 256 | Forgery | 3 to 10 years |
| 266 | Counterfeiting | 7 years |
| 267 | Arson | 7 to 14 years |
| 306 | Threatening to kill or do grievous bodily harm | 7 years |
| 312 | Accessory after the fact to crime -- to crimes punishable by life imprisonment -- to crimes punishable by 10 years or more imprisonment -- to all other crimes | 7 years 5 years half the maximum imprisonment for the crime |
Amendments and failed amendments
Section 14 of the Crimes Act 1961 allowed death sentences. However, due to growing general public opposition to the death penalty, reformist New Zealand National Party Minister of Justice Ralph Hanan and other National MPs exercised a conscience vote and voted with the abolitionist New Zealand Labour Party to forbid judges passing sentence of death other than in cases of treason. That was the functional abolition in New Zealand, with no one executed after this date. In 1989, the death penalty was formally abolished by the Fourth Labour Government.
Section 187A of the Crimes Act was inserted in 1978. It provides access criteria for abortion in New Zealand and is the subject of perennial debates between the Abortion Law Reform Association of New Zealand (pro-choice) and the New Zealand anti-abortion movement over greater restriction, maintenance and complete decriminalisation of abortion.
The Homosexual Law Reform Act 1986 amended the Crimes Act, allowing for consensual homosexual relationships between men.
In 2003, the Prostitution Law Reform Act 2003 decriminalised sex work, removing sections 147-149A of the Crimes Act, which had formerly prohibited most forms of prostitution in New Zealand through maintaining criminal penalties against soliciting, living off the proceeds of sex work, brothel-keeping and managing sex workers.
The Crimes (Substituted Section 59) Amendment Act 2007 abolished Section 59 of the Crimes Act, which had previously allowed parental corporal punishment of children, despite opposition from religious social conservatives and others.
Sections 50 and 169 dealt with the [provocation defence]] which mitigated fatal assaults to the lesser charge and penalty due to manslaughter, rather than murder. It was abolished through multipartisan consent in 2009, with the exception of the ACT New Zealand party.
Section 123 of the Crimes Act deals with blasphemy. Unlike the United Kingdom, New Zealand has not yet abolished this moribund "offence". In practise, charges can only be brought through permission of the New Zealand Solicitor-General, which is usually not forthcoming, given modern religious pluralism and free speech sensibilities.
Section 144A of the Crimes Act deals with New Zealand citizens and ordinary residents that commit acts of child sexual abuse in overseas jurisdictions through child sex tourism. It applies existing prohibitions against sexual connection and indecent acts with children under twelve and young people to children within overseas jurisdictions. Under Section 144C, it is also illegal to promote child sex tourism overseas from New Zealand.
Section 204A outlaws female genital mutilation within New Zealand, while Section 204B deals with ancillary and related offences.
There have been two attempts thus far to introduce regulated euthanasia in New Zealand through abolition of Section 179 of the Crimes Act 1961 and replacement with a liberalised regulatory regime, in 1995 and 2003. Both failed.
See also
- Abortion in New Zealand
- Capital punishment in New Zealand
- Euthanasia in New Zealand
- Homosexual Law Reform Act 1986
- Prostitution in New Zealand
- Crime in New Zealand
- Criminal Records (Clean Slate) Act 2004
- List of Statutes of New Zealand
External links
- Crimes Act 1961 - text of the Act