Bill Text: NJ A5239 | 2020-2021 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Increases size of Criminal Sentencing and Disposition Commission; broadens reporting duties.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 3-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2021-01-11 - Introduced, Referred to Assembly Judiciary Committee [A5239 Detail]
Download: New_Jersey-2020-A5239-Introduced.html
Sponsored by:
Assemblywoman SHANIQUE SPEIGHT
District 29 (Essex)
SYNOPSIS
Increases size of Criminal Sentencing and Disposition Commission; broadens reporting duties.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As introduced.
An Act concerning the Criminal Sentencing and Disposition Commission and amending P.L. 2009, c.81.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. Section 1 of P.L. 2009, c. 81 (2C:48A-1) is amended to read as follows:
1. a. There is hereby created a commission to be known as the "Criminal Sentencing and Disposition Commission" to consist of [13] 17 members as follows: the Attorney General, or his designee; the Public Defender, or his designee; the Chief Justice, or a designee of the Chief Justice who may be a retired judge with experience in the Criminal Division of the Superior Court; the Commissioner of the Department of Corrections, or his designee; the Chairman of the State Parole Board, or his designee; the President of the New Jersey County Prosecutors Association, or his designee; the President of the New Jersey Bar Association, or his designee; the chair of the Legislative Black Caucus or his designee; the Chair of the Legislative Latino Caucus, or his designee; one public member appointed by the Senate President; one public member appointed by the Senate Minority Leader; one public member appointed by the Speaker of the General Assembly; one public member appointed by the Assembly Minority Leader; and [two] four public members appointed by the Governor, not more than [one] two of whom shall be of the same political party. In selecting the public members, the Senate President, the Senate Minority Leader, the Speaker of the General Assembly, the Assembly Minority Leader and the Governor should seek to include persons who have experience, training, or academic background in victims' rights advocacy, corrections, judicial administration or criminal law. The public members appointed by the Governor shall include one representative of a police organization.
Public members shall serve for a term of three years from their date of appointment and until their successors are appointed and qualified. Any vacancy in the membership of the commission shall be filled by appointment in the same manner as the original appointment. Vacancies resulting from causes other than by expiration of term shall be filled for the unexpired term only.
b. The commission shall organize as soon as possible after the appointment of its members. The Senate President and the Speaker of the General Assembly shall appoint one of the public members to serve as chair and the Minority Leader of the Senate and the Minority Leader of the Assembly shall appoint one of the public members to serve as vice-chair.
c. The members of the commission shall serve without compensation, but shall be eligible for reimbursement for necessary and reasonable expenses incurred in the performance of their official duties within the limits of funds appropriated or otherwise made available to the commission for its purposes.
d. The Office of Legislative Services shall provide staffing for the work of the commission. At the request of the commission all State entities shall, as soon as practicable, provide the commission with any available information concerning sentencing. In addition, the commission shall be entitled to accept the assistance and services of such employees of any State, county, or municipal department, board, bureau, commission, or agency as may be made available to it and to employ such legal, stenographic, technical, and clerical assistance and incur such expenses as may be necessary in order to perform its duties within the limits of funds appropriated or otherwise made available to it for its purposes.
(cf: P.L.2009, c.81, s.1)
2. Section 2 of P.L. 2009, c. 81 (C.2C:48A-2) is amended to read as follows:
2. a. It shall be the duty of the commission to conduct a thorough review of the criminal sentencing provisions of New Jersey law for consideration of possible recommendations for revisions to the laws governing the criminal justice system. These recommendations shall be developed with the goal of providing a rational, just and proportionate sentencing scheme that achieves to the greatest extent possible public safety, offender accountability, crime reduction and prevention, and offender rehabilitation while promoting the efficient use of the State's resources.
b. [Additionally] As part of its review, the commission shall consider issues regarding disparity [in] throughout the criminal justice process, including but not limited to racial and ethnic disparity issues. The recommendations shall be based on the available statistical data as well as any other relevant information.
c. As provided in section 4 of P.L.2009, c.81 (C.2C:48A-4), the commission shall submit to the Governor and the Legislature reports containing its recommendations consistent with these purposes. The commission's reports shall include, but need not be limited to, recommendations regarding:
(1) An assessment of the current sentencing provisions under New Jersey law, and a consideration as to whether the sentencing options available to courts are sufficient or should be expanded in some manner to provide a greater range of sentencing options;
(2) A review of judicial discretion available under the Criminal Code, considering the appropriateness of existing mandatory minimum sentencing and whether it would be beneficial to enhance, reduce or retain the current level of judicial discretion;
(3) A recommendation as to whether determinate sentencing should be extended to all criminal offenses, or to additional criminal offenses under New Jersey law;
(4) A recommendation as to appropriate limits and conditions on terms of supervised release, including whether there should be a mechanism for changing the length of a term of supervised release after its imposition and whether there should be supervised release for offenders who serve their maximum sentence;
(5) A projection of the impact, if any, on the size of New Jersey's correctional and supervised offender populations of the implementation of each measure proposed by the commission;
(6) A recommendation for intermediate, alternative or additional sanctions that should be made available in the New Jersey criminal justice system, including proposals for alternatives to incarceration for suitable offenders, the estimated cost of such programs, and recommendations for rules or principles to guide a judge's imposition of such sanctions as part of a criminal sentence; and
(7) A review of disparity issues in the criminal justice process, including but not limited to racial and ethnic disparity issues, whether evidenced in sentencing outcomes or at earlier stages of the criminal process, such as but not limited to policing, charging and plea decisions, access to criminal defense legal representation, and jury selection processes, and recommend appropriate revisions or other means to address any such issues.
(cf: P.L.2009, c.81, s.2)
3. This act shall take effect immediately.
STATEMENT
This bill increases the membership of the Criminal Sentencing and Disposition Commission, and expands the duties of the commission. The CSDC was established in 2009 by P.L.2009, c.81 and is charged with conducting a thorough review of the criminal sentencing provisions of New Jersey law for consideration of possible recommendations for revisions to the laws governing the criminal justice system.
Under the bill, the membership of the commission increases from 13 to 17 members. The additional members shall include the chair of the Legislative Black Caucus or his designee and the Chair of the Legislative Latino Caucus, or his designee. The bill adds two additional public members, for a total of four public members, not more than two of whom shall be of the same political party.
The bill broadens the scope of the annual report from the CSDC to the Governor and the Legislature concerning disparity issues in the criminal justice process, to add such areas as policing, access to criminal defense legal representation, and jury selection processes to the existing reporting area of charging and plea decisions.
