Bill Text: NJ A280 | 2024-2025 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Prohibits sex offenders from residing within 1,000 feet of victim's home or workplace.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)
Status: (Introduced) 2024-01-09 - Introduced, Referred to Assembly Public Safety and Preparedness Committee [A280 Detail]
Download: New_Jersey-2024-A280-Introduced.html
STATE OF NEW JERSEY
221st LEGISLATURE
PRE-FILED FOR INTRODUCTION IN THE 2024 SESSION
Sponsored by:
Assemblywoman MICHELE MATSIKOUDIS
District 21 (Morris, Somerset and Union)
SYNOPSIS
Prohibits sex offenders from residing within 1,000 feet of victim's home or workplace.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
Introduced Pending Technical Review by Legislative Counsel.
An Act concerning sex offenders and supplementing P.L.1994, c.133 (C.2C:7-1 et seq.).
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. It shall be a crime of the fourth degree for a person subject to the registration requirements set forth in P.L.1994, c.133 (C.2C:7-1 et seq.) who has committed a sex offense as defined in section 2 of P.L.1994, c.133 (C.2C:7-2) to reside within 1,000 feet of the home or workplace of the person's victim unless:
a. the person is required to serve a sentence at a jail, prison, juvenile facility, or other correctional institution or facility which is located within 1,000 feet of the victim's home or workplace;
b. the person is receiving treatment at a mental health facility located within 1,000 feet of the victim's home or workplace; or
c. the person established the residence prior to the effective date of P.L. , c. (C. ) (pending before the Legislature as this bill).
2. This act shall take effect on the first day of the fourth month next following enactment.
STATEMENT
This bill makes it a crime of the fourth degree for registered sex offenders to reside within 1,000 feet of their victim's home or workplace.
The residential ban established under the bill would not apply to a sex offender who is serving a sentence at a jail, prison, juvenile facility, or other correctional institution or facility that is located within 1,000 feet of the victim's home or workplace; is receiving treatment at a mental health facility located within 1,000 feet of the victim's home or workplace; or established the residence prior to the bill's effective date.
A crime of the fourth degree is punishable by imprisonment of up to 18 months, a fine of up to $10,000, or both.
It is the sponsor's intent in introducing this bill to close a loophole in Megan's Law which does not explicitly prohibit a sex offender from residing near his or her victim. At least five other states (Alabama, Arkansas, Indiana, Tennessee, and West Virginia) have enacted laws prohibiting sex offenders from residing within a certain distance of their victims, and Oklahoma has introduced similar legislation.
