So far this year, more than 100,000 people have been charged with a crime in New Zealand. The Herald has reported on many of those crimes, the court cases that followed and the people behind the offending.
Today, court reporter Sam Hurley and senior crime and justice reporter Anna Leask look back at some of the biggest headlines of the year.
In August a jury found Anna Browne guilty of murdering Carly Stewart at a West Auckland pamper party last year.
Stewart, 36, died from uncontrollable blood loss at a Te Atatu property when Browne plunged a large butcher's knife deep into the left side of her face.
Browne was sentenced to life in prison for the murder and must serve 12 years behind bars before she is eligible for parole.
After the trial the Herald revealed Browne's dark past.
At just 14 years old, she was charged with attempted murder after stabbing a man.
She escaped a prison sentence for that attack, but was jailed in her 20s for her part in a machete attack that nearly severed a man's hand.
The mother-of-six had been out of prison just four years when she murdered Stewart.
Earlier this year, a 23-year-old woman woke in the early hours of the morning at a quarry in Riverhead , partially clothed, with a man standing over her with a bat.
She had no idea who he was or where she was - all she knew is she had to run to save her life.
She escaped, managed to call police and then, the manhunt began.
She had been in Ponsonby with friends and it is thought her attacker picked her up in Grey Lynn.
The woman has no recollection of what happened to her before she woke.
Colin Jack Mitchell, 59, of Onehunga is before the courts on charges of abduction, wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm and assault with intent to commit sexual violation.
The former RSA president has pleaded not guilty and will go on trial in the Auckland District Court in February.
There was shock when two Auckland police officers were charged with kidnapping a 17-year-old boy to end a young love affair.
Inspector Hurimoana Dennis, 52, and Sergeant Vaughan Perry, 45, were jointly charged with twice kidnapping the teen in 2015.
The young Auckland man, now 19, claimed the inspector and sergeant locked him in a prison cell, threatened him with a rape charge, and "deported" him to Australia to end his relationship with a 15-year-old girl.
The incidents occurred as the teens' families argued over the relationship, and after the boy's mother had filed a formal complaint with police about her son.
Dennis and Perry went on trial in the High Court at Auckland in November - and the case was polarising, with some saying police were wrong to charge the men and others applauding the decision.
A jury found both men not guilty on all charges, a verdict that was met with applause from the public gallery in the courtroom. Perry is back on duty, but Dennis has indicated he is retiring from police work.
On July 26 Northland man Quinn Patterson entered himself on New Zealand's list of double murderers when he gunned down property manager Wendy Campbell and her daughter Natanya in Whangarei.
Contractor Jeff Pipe was wounded but managed to escape with his life.
The Herald later revealed Patterson's chilling last words and final psychotic moments.
Patterson's best friend and former partner Christina White said he called her at her home in Australia and said, calmly: "I've shot [them] ... they're dead on the front lawn".
"I told them, they wouldn't leave me alone, they kept harassing me - I told them I'd shoot them. I have."
White said she'd never heard him so calm.
"He said, 'you're my last phone call, I'm ringing you to tell you I love you and I'm saying goodbye'."
Patterson then told White he wouldn't survive the day.
His badly burned remains were recovered from the charred wreck of his rented home on Mount Tiger Rd after it went up in flames following a firefight with police.
Soon after the murders, Michael John Hayes was charged with supplying military-style semi-automatic weapons to Patterson.
Some of the firearms allegedly included a Mossburg 12-gauge shotgun, Gevarm .22 calibre rifle, an AK-47 replica semi-automatic rifle, a Saiga 12-gauge shotgun, and a 7.62 calibre rifle with various rounds of magazines.
A week before he was set to go on trial for a raft of sex charges against six women, well-known New Zealand actor Rene Naufahu changed his plea to guilty on all counts.
The 47-year-old former Shortland Street star had initially denied the charges of indecent assault but admitted the offending on September 1.
The court heard that Naufahu told the victims that they were "very talented actors and [he] wanted to develop their talents".
He would perform intimate physical exercises with the actresses in an effort to "express their emotions".
He told one of his victims that it would help give her "the chance to play a lead role in a US television show".
Naufahu rose to fame starring as Sam the ambulance officer in the original cast of Shortland Street before moving on to act in the Power Rangers television series.
After pleading guilty Naufahu told the Herald: "I accept now that I made errors and crossed boundaries that should not have been crossed.
"I hope that by acknowledging the accepted inappropriate conduct, this now stops and everyone can move on.
"I have only ever wanted to provide opportunities, where they may not have otherwise existed. I have never sought to offend or upset anyone. Yet I accept that I have and this has been hard to confront.
"I am of course ashamed and disappointed that my conduct has led to this… To those hurt and upset by my conduct, I am sincerely sorry."
Naufahu will be sentenced on January 23.
Heather Bills died at Middlemore Hospital on January 2, 2013, six weeks after she was badly burned in a deliberately-lit fire at her Orakei home.
However her death was nothing to do with the fire - Bills died from a massive insulin overdose.
Police investigated and called in experts from overseas to help ascertain how Bills ingested the insulin.
They suspected three medical workers of administering the fatal dose to Bills on the night of December 26-27, 2012, but could not find enough evidence to support charges.
After a lengthy inquest earlier this year Chief Coroner Judge Deborah Marshall ruled the 64-year-old's death was no accident.
She found the cause of death was a "non-accidental overdose of insulin".
"I am satisfied however that Mrs Bills was administered an overdose ... and that the overdose must have been administered by someone who had access to insulin and the secure National Burns Centre," she said.
It is not her role "to establish civil, criminal or disciplinary liability" and to date, no one has been held accountable for Bills' death.
But police have not ruled that out.
"Police will be reviewing the Coroner's findings and our own investigation in relation to this matter," Detective Senior Sergeant Ross Ellwood told the Herald.
"This is expected to take some time."
Kiwis were outraged when the Herald revealed that a man convicted twice for sex offending since he emigrated from Afghanistan in 2012 - including while on bail - would not be deported.
Sultan Ali Abdul Ali Akbari arrived in New Zealand from Afghanistan in October 2012 on a resident visa.
In February 2013 Akbari indecently assaulted a woman and was convicted.
Then in 2015 he was jailed for two years and one month for five charges of indecent acts on girls aged 8 and 10 and indecently assaulting an 18-year-old.
That offending happened while Akbari was on bail awaiting trial on the 2013 charge.
Akbari was jailed but released on parole in January - despite the Parole Board finding that a lack of English had resulted in Akbari making "no progress" in prison.
Additionally, he did not complete any rehabilitation programmes or offence-related courses in prison.
After he was released the Parole Board tightened Akbari's conditions - ordering GPS monitoring and banning him from entering any area "where children congregate" and shopping malls.
Akbari's case sparked further criticism when the Herald revealed he had been granted a deportation liability suspension by Immigration New Zealand - meaning he could not be deported as long as he did not offend again within five years.
The decision to let Akbari stay was made by a senior Immigration New Zealand official on behalf of then-Immigration Minister Michael Woodhouse.
As a result of the Herald's initial story about Akbari, Woodhouse temporarily suspended INZ's decision-making powers around deportations.
Akbari has not reoffended since being released from prison.
A witness found guilty of lying at one of the country's most high profile murder trials was jailed in October after a trial that shone a light into secret jailhouse witnesses.
"Witness C", whose identity is suppressed, was jailed for eight years after he was convicted on eight counts of perjury for lying at the double-murder trial of David Tamihere 27 years ago.
During his trial in the High Court at Auckland the jury heard Witness C gave "powerful" evidence in the 1990 jury trial, which led to Tamihere being found guilty of killing Swedish tourists Urban Hoglin and Heidi Paakkonen.
Tamihere, who described Witness C's perjury convictions as a "major" moment in his case, has always professed his innocence.
At sentencing, Justice Christian Whata said the court case was "truly exceptional" and Witness C's lies were a "brazen assault on the foundation of our criminal justice system".
Acting prosecutor Richard Francois said Witness C's offending was the "most serious case of perjury that has ever come before the New Zealand courts".
"This verdict upholds the integrity of the justice system and the importance of the truth on the judicial process," he said.
A love trial, a shooting, a mainland cop charged with murder.
It was like something out of a movie when a school teacher turned police officer allegedly shot his wife, the mother of his three children, in Invercargill on Anzac Day.
Constable Ben McLean, who became a police officer in 2007, murdered Verity McLean and the attempted murder of Garry Duggan.
The mother of their three children died from a single gunshot to the head, less than three weeks after she told McLean she was leaving him for family friend, Garry Duggan.
On April 25 McLean entered an industrial building in Invercargill where his estranged wife, nicknamed Bert, and Duggan were living together.
McLean gunned down his wife using a .22-calibre rifle.
He then turned the firearm on Duggan - who reportedly confronted the killer and struggled with him.
After he admitted the charges, McLean made an emotional apology in court.
"The real victims of this death are my three children. The two most important adults in their lives are now gone," he said.
"Bert was the love of my life who broke my heart and my soul, and I will live with regret and the torment for having been involved in her death for the rest of my life."
Duggan, through spokesman Michael Laws, told the court in his victim impact statement that he continued to live with an immense feeling of guilt.
"I loved this woman, and she loved me and she felt safe with me, and I could not protect her from the evil of Ben McLean," Duggan said.
"Bert's final moments of suffering from that evil is a legacy I have to live with forever.
"If I'd been a physically weaker man, there would be no one here to tell you what an evil bastard he really is."
Duggan and McLean had been mates for 15 years.
"I do resent having my life stolen by this man and do not believe he has any remorse . . . he regards his actions as being caused by others rather than accepting any responsibility himself," Duggan said.
On December 18 McLean was sentenced to life imprisonment with a 17-year non-parole period for the murder and attempted murder.
The Corrections Minister called it "disgraceful" and "revolting" and most of New Zealand agreed when rapist and murderer Liam James Reid married disgraced lawyer Davina Murray at Auckland Prison on June 27.
Reid is serving a 23-year sentence for raping and killing deaf woman Emma Agnew in Christchurch in 2007, as well as the rape, attempted murder and robbery of a 21-year-old student in Dunedin nine days later.
Murray lost her legal career after smuggling an iPhone, cigarettes and a lighter to her client Reid in 2011 while he was in Mt Eden prison.
She was working as his lawyer during an appeal against his conviction at the time.
The wedding took place at Auckland Prison at Paremoremo - the nation's toughest jail - at 10am and was conducted by the in-house chaplain.
Several guests attended.
The nuptials took place on Reid's daughter's 22nd birthday, which her mother said was "sick".
Then-Corrections Minister Louise Upston said she found the marriage "particularly disgraceful".
"Unfortunately it's not against the law to get married in this country but I'm thinking of Emma Agnew's family because they won't get to see her get married.
"I just find it revolting. For her family it will be an absolutely tragic day for them because they know they will not see their daughter get married and I think it's appalling."
The killer's wedding was catered, photos were taken and the legal paperwork was signed to seal the convict couple as newlyweds.
Corrections would not release photographs to the Herald, nor could it say what food was served, who specifically paid for it - it has been suggested another Auckland lawyer footed the bill - or who the guests were.
Murray has repeatedly refused to speak about her big day.
However in an email to the Herald in August she defended her professional status.
"It is true that I have been struck off the register as you like to publish, but I still hold a law degree," she wrote.
"I am legally allowed to represent myself in a court of law.
"I cannot stop you from following false prophets, but I can advise you to think pragmatically about choosing your enemies."
New Zealand prisons do not allow conjugal visits - so the newlyweds will not be able to consummate the marriage until Reid is released.
Given his hefty sentence that may never happen.
• Chasing Ghosts: a podcast series and feature on the disappearance of Amber-Lee Cruickshank
• The tragic death of Marie Harlick
• Remembering Raurimu: victims break their 20-year silence
• Recidivist child sex offender freed on parole with a new name and identity
• The life and times of career criminal Dean Wickliffe
• Kathleen Cooper, the grandmother who murdered her grandson
• Dome Valley - a young woman's horrifying ordeal
• The murder of Jindarat Prutsiriporn and her Ghost Unit killers
• The death of teenager Morrocco Tai during a police chase
• The Taranaki dad who killed his little girl
• The famed artist who worked at the Louvre, then raped his students
• The inquest into the death of Christie Marceau
• Stephen Dudley - Coroner says death caused by teens in fight
• Rapper Scribe arrested, vows to take action against police
The man says he doesn't want any other child harmed by someone like David Brent Phillips.