Sponsored by:
Assemblyman RONALD S. DANCER
District 12 (Burlington, Middlesex, Monmouth and Ocean)
SYNOPSIS
Establishes second degree crime for threatening to kill law enforcement officers.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As introduced.
An Act concerning certain terroristic threats and amending N.J.S.2C:12-3.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. N.J.S.2C:12-3 is amended to read as follows:
2C:12-3. Terroristic threats.
a. A person is guilty of a crime of the third degree if he threatens to commit any crime of violence with the purpose to terrorize another or to cause evacuation of a building, place of assembly, or facility of public transportation, or otherwise to cause serious public inconvenience, or in reckless disregard of the risk of causing such terror or inconvenience. A violation of this subsection is a crime of the second degree if it occurs during a declared period of national, State or county emergency. The actor shall be strictly liable upon proof that the crime occurred, in fact, during a declared period of national, State or county emergency. It shall not be a defense that the actor did not know that there was a declared period of emergency at the time the crime occurred.
b. [A] Except as provided in subsection c. of this section, a person is guilty of a crime of the third degree if he threatens to kill another with the purpose to put him in imminent fear of death under circumstances reasonably causing the victim to believe the immediacy of the threat and the likelihood that it will be carried out.
c. A person is guilty of a crime of the second degree if the person threatens to kill a law enforcement officer or a group of law enforcement officers with the purpose to put the law enforcement officer or group of law enforcement officers in imminent fear of death under circumstances reasonably causing the victim or victims to believe the immediacy of the threat and the likelihood that it will be carried out.
(cf: P.L.2002, c.26, s.11)
2. This act shall take effect immediately.
STATEMENT
This bill provides that threatening to kill law enforcement officers is a crime of the second degree. Under the bill, a person is guilty of a crime of the second degree if the person threatens to kill a law enforcement officer or a group of law enforcement officers with the purpose to put these individuals in fear of imminent death. A crime of the second degree is punishable by a term of five to 10 years imprisonment, a maximum fine of $150,000, or both.
Under current law, a person who threatens to kill another individual with the purpose to put the individual in fear of imminent death is guilty of a crime of the third degree. A third degree crime is punishable by three to five years imprisonment, a maximum fine of $15,000, or both.
In the view of the sponsor, it is necessary to upgrade penalties for threatening to kill law enforcement officers due to recent threats to kill law enforcement officers in Jersey City.