Concealment of Location of Victim Remains Bill
This bill deals with killers who refuse to tell anyone where they hid their victim's body. It would do two things: first, courts would have to treat that refusal as a reason to give a harsher sentence. Second, the Parole Board — the group that decides whether prisoners can be released early — would have to keep the offender in prison unless they are satisfied the offender has genuinely helped police find where the victim's body or remains are.
What this affects
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If a killer refuses to say where their victim's body is, courts must treat that as a reason for a tougher sentence, and the Parole Board must keep them in prison until they cooperate.
any failure or refusal by the offender, having committed homicide as defined in section 158 of the Crimes Act 1961, to reveal, or to co-operate in any efforts to identify, the location of the body or of any remains of the victim
The Board must refuse to direct release under section 28 unless the Board is satisfied the offender has cooperated satisfactorily (either before or after the offender was sentenced to imprisonment for the offence) in the investigation of the offence to identify the victim's location.
Progress through Parliament
Have your say
This bill is open for public submissions to the Justice Committee. Anyone can tell the committee what they think, and you don’t need to be an expert. Submissions close 2 September 2026.
Bill text sourced from legislation.govt.nz (Parliamentary Counsel Office). Arapono’s summary and breakdown are drafted with AI grounded in that official text and reviewed by an Arapono editor for accuracy and neutrality before publishing. Arapono is non-partisan and takes no position on this bill.