Life imprisonment is an optional sentence for aircraft hijacking,[4] Class A drug dealing,[5] manslaughter[6] and terrorism.
[9] It also includes some cases where the murderer was aged 25 or less, as young people "tend to have poor impulse control and difficulty in regulating emotions".
[12] A sentence of life imprisonment without the possibility of parole has been given only once, to Brenton Tarrant for the Christchurch mosque shootings in March 2019.
The longest minimum period for a woman is 19 years, currently being served by Tracy Jean Goodman for the murder of pensioner Mona Morriss in the course of a burglary in Marton in January 2005.
Preventive detention has a minimum period of imprisonment of five years, but the sentencing judge can extend this if they believe that the prisoner's history warrants it.