Hi Adele

Your OIA request has been received by the Ministry.

However, some of the information you have sought is court and judicial information that sits within the court record and is not subject to the Official Information Act (Section 2(6)(a) of the Act specifically excludes the courts). The court record is individual paper files held by courts and contains the particulars of individual cases.

The Ministry, however, can provide statistical information on convictions for the charges you've listed and the sentences broken down by court.

However, information about individual cases, including the name of the sentencing judge, and the specific sentence for each case, and whether the offence involved the use of cannabis for medicinal and/or therapeutic purposes sits within the court record. As I've mentioned, this information isn't subject to the Official Information Act and access to court record information requires an application to the court.

We are happy to provide the statistical information I have noted above, but before we do, I wanted to clarify that you still wanted this information. Can you please advise?

Regards

Antony

Antony Paltridge
Team Leader (Media and External Relations) | Communication Services
Ministry of Justice
DDI: +64 4 918 8980
www.justice.govt.nz

-----Original Message-----
From: Adele Redmond [mailto:[FOI #3725 email]]
Sent: Tuesday, 8 March 2016 10:55 a.m.
To: correspondence, official
Subject: Official Information Act request - Data relating to cannabis charges

Dear Ministry of Justice,

I would like to request under the Official Information Act:

* An annual breakdown of national data, from 2010 onward, on the number of convictions for charges of possession, cultivation, manufacture or supply of cannabis in which the defendant claimed the offence was undertaken for medicinal and/or therapeutic purposes;

* The sentence given on each convicted charge, eg) discharged, community service, the amount of any fine to be paid;

* The sentencing judge;

* and the court in which the sentence was given;

I would then like this process repeated specifically for charges heard in the Nelson District and High Court(s), from 2010 onward.

Yours faithfully,
Adele Redmond.

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Hi Adele

 

Please find attached a response to your OIA request about cannabis
convictions in Nelson.

 

Regards

 

Antony

 

 

   

[1]Description: Description: Description: Antony Paltridge
http://justice.govt.nz/courts/shared/jus...
Team Leader (Media and
External Relations) |
Communication Services
DDI: +64 4 918 8980

[2]www.justice.govt.nz

 

 

 

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