Bill Text: NJ A5400 | 2026-2027 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Establishes High-Risk Domestic Violence Response Program and requires certain training for law enforcement officers; appropriates $2 million.
Sponsorship: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1)
Status: (Introduced) 2026-09-10 - Introduced, Referred to Assembly Judiciary Committee [A5400 Detail]
Download: New_Jersey-2026-A5400-Introduced.html
Sponsored by:
Assemblywoman SHANIQUE SPEIGHT
District 29 (Essex and Hudson)
SYNOPSIS
Establishes High-Risk Domestic Violence Response Program and requires certain training for law enforcement officers; appropriates $2 million.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As introduced.
An Act concerning victims of domestic violence, supplementing Title 52 of the Revised Statutes, and amending P.L.1991, c.261.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. (New section) a. There is established within the Department of Law and Public Safety a High-Risk Domestic Violence Response Program. The purpose of the program shall be to establish a high-risk domestic violence rapid-response team in each county to provide a rapid, coordinated response by law enforcement and social services professionals to incidents of domestic violence involving a victim at elevated risk of serious bodily injury or death.
b. The Attorney General, in consultation with the county prosecutors, the Administrative Director of the Courts, the Department of Children and Families, the Domestic Violence Fatality and Near Fatality Review Board, established pursuant to P.L.2003, c.225 (C.52:27D-43.17a et seq.), domestic violence service providers, and any other entity deemed appropriate by the Attorney General, shall establish guidelines for implementing this program. The guidelines shall include, but are not limited to, procedures requiring a law enforcement officer to conduct a domestic violence lethality risk assessment, in accordance with the provisions of section 2 of P.L. , c. (C. ) (pending before the Legislature as this bill), for any person the officer has reasonable cause to believe is a victim of a crime or offense involving domestic violence, as defined in subsection d. of section 3 of P.L.1991, c.261 (C.2C:25-19), who consents to the assessment.
c. The county prosecutor's office in each county shall designate a high-risk domestic violence rapid-response team coordinator responsible for coordinating with the Attorney General to develop procedures for implementing the High-Risk Domestic Violence Response Program established pursuant to subsection a. of this section.
d. The governing body of a municipality or county shall provide the Attorney General with documentation of the costs incurred to implement the High-Risk Domestic Violence Response Program. The Department of Law and Public Safety shall reimburse each municipality or county for documented costs associated with implementing the program.
2. (New section) a. The Attorney General, in consultation with the Domestic Violence Fatality and Near Fatality Review Board, shall approve an objective, standardized, and evidence-based domestic violence lethality risk assessment instrument for use by law enforcement officers to determine whether a person is in immediate need of services from a high-risk domestic violence rapid-response team or other services available to victims of domestic violence. The lethality risk assessment instrument shall generate a score or rating that indicates when an alleged victim of domestic violence is at elevated risk of serious bodily injury or death from a future act of domestic violence.
b. The approved domestic violence lethality risk assessment instrument shall be based on information deemed relevant by the Attorney General including, but not limited to:
(1) the date of all recent acts of domestic violence or the approximate dates of those acts; and
(2) for each recent act of domestic violence:
(a) a description of each act, including the type of physical violence used, if any;
(b) whether injuries were sustained by the alleged victim; and
(c) whether the act involved the use or threatened use of a firearm or other weapon.
c. If the lethality risk assessment generates a score or rating indicating an elevated risk of serious bodily injury or death to an alleged victim, the law enforcement officer shall:
(1) notify the alleged victim that the assessment score indicates the victim is at elevated risk of serious bodily injury or death; and
(2) with the consent of the alleged victim, facilitate the provision of immediate assistance to the victim by a high-risk domestic violence rapid-response team or other services available to victims of domestic violence.
3. (New section) There is appropriated from the General Fund to the Department of Law and Public Safety the sum of $2,000,000 to effectuate the provisions of section 1 of P.L. , c. (C. ) (pending before the Legislature as this bill). The Attorney General may seek assistance from the federal government, private foundations, and any other source to fund the High-Risk Domestic Violence Response Program established pursuant to section 1 of P.L. , c. (C. ) (pending before the Legislature as this bill).
4. Section 4 of P.L.1991, c.261 (C.2C:25-20) is amended to read as follows:
4. a. (1) (a) The Division of Criminal Justice shall develop and approve a training course and curriculum on the handling, investigation, and response procedures concerning reports of domestic violence and abuse and neglect of the elderly and disabled. [This]
(b) In accordance with the provisions of P.L. , c. , the training course and curriculum also shall include law enforcement officer training on:
(i) conducting a domestic violence lethality risk assessment of an alleged victim of domestic violence; and
(ii) providing notice to an alleged victim if a lethality risk assessment generates a score that indicates an elevated risk of serious bodily injury or death from a future act of domestic violence; and, with the alleged victim's consent, facilitating the immediate provision of services to the victim through a high-risk domestic violence rapid response team or other services available to victims of domestic violence.
(c) The training course and curriculum shall be reviewed at least every two years and modified by the Division of Criminal Justice from time to time as need may require. The Division of Criminal Justice shall distribute the curriculum to all local police agencies.
(2) The Attorney General shall be responsible for ensuring training as follows:
(a) all law enforcement officers shall attend initial training within 90 days of appointment or transfer and annual in-service training of at least four hours as described in this section. Once every three years, this in-service training requirement shall be satisfied through in-person instructor-led training.
(b) all assistant county prosecutors involved in the handling of domestic violence cases shall attend initial training within 90 days of appointment or transfer and annual in-service training of at least four hours as described in this section.
b. (1) The Administrative Director of the Courts shall develop and approve a training course and a curriculum for all municipal court judges, Superior Court judges responsible for the adjudication of domestic violence matters, and judicial personnel involved with the intake and processing of domestic violence complaints. All judges and judicial personnel identified in this section shall participate in core training regarding issues such as the dynamics of domestic violence, the impact of domestic violence on children, trauma-informed danger assessments, batterer intervention programs, and domestic violence risk factors and lethality. In addition, municipal court judges shall receive specific training related to the issuance of temporary restraining orders in emergent situations. Superior Court judges responsible for the adjudication of domestic violence matters shall receive supplemental training related to the issuance and enforcement of temporary and final restraining orders, including factors considered when determining if a final restraining order should be issued, child custody and parenting plans, the setting of child support, distribution of property and ongoing housing expenses, and counseling. The core curriculum and individualized training programs shall be reviewed at least every two years and modified by the Administrative Director of the Courts from time to time as need may require.
(2) The Administrative Director of the Courts shall be responsible for ensuring that all municipal court judges, Superior Court judges responsible for the adjudication of domestic violence matters, and judicial personnel involved with the intake and processing of domestic violence complaints attend initial training within 90 days of appointment or transfer and annual in-service training as described in this section.
(3) The Attorney General and the Administrative Director of the Courts shall provide that all training on the handling of domestic violence matters required under this subsection shall include information concerning the impact of domestic violence on society, and include topics regarding the dynamics of domestic violence, the impact of domestic violence on children, the impact of trauma on survivors, risks for lethality in domestic violence cases, safety planning and services for survivors of domestic violence, the impact of racial bias and discrimination on survivors and marginalized communities, the statutory and case law concerning domestic violence, the necessary elements of a protection order, the guidelines regarding when domestic violence incidents trigger mandatory or discretionary arrest, policies and procedures as promulgated or ordered by the Attorney General or the Supreme Court, and the use of available community resources, support services, available sanctions and treatment options.
c. Law enforcement agencies shall: (1) establish domestic crisis teams or participate in established domestic crisis teams, and (2) shall train individual officers in methods of dealing with domestic violence and neglect and abuse of the elderly and disabled. The teams may include social workers, clergy or other persons trained in counseling, crisis intervention or in the treatment of domestic violence and neglect and abuse of the elderly and disabled victims.
(cf: P.L.2021, c.377, s.1)
5. This act shall take effect on the first day of the seventh month next following enactment, except that the Attorney General may take any anticipatory administrative action necessary for the implementation of this act.
STATEMENT
This bill establishes the High-Risk Domestic Violence Response Program in the Department of Law and Public Safety to create rapid-response teams in each county to provide a rapid, coordinated response by law enforcement and social services professionals to incidents of domestic violence involving a victim at elevated risk of serious bodily injury or death.
The Attorney General, in consultation with other appropriate agencies and entities, is to develop guidelines for implementing the program that include, but are not limited to, procedures requiring law enforcement officers to conduct a domestic violence lethality risk assessment for any person the officer has reasonable cause to believe is a victim of a crime or offense involving domestic violence, who consents to the assessment.
Under the bill, the county prosecutor's office in each county is to designate a high-risk domestic violence rapid-response team coordinator to coordinate with the Attorney General to develop procedures for implementing the High-Risk Domestic Violence Response Program. Pursuant to the bill's provisions, the Department of Law and Public Safety is to reimburse each municipality or county for documented costs associated with implementing the program.
Under the bill, the Attorney General, in consultation with the Domestic Violence Fatality and Near Fatality Review Board, is required to approve an objective, standardized, and evidence-based domestic violence lethality risk assessment instrument for use by law enforcement officers to determine whether a person is in immediate need of services from a high-risk domestic violence rapid-response team or other services available to victims of domestic violence. If the lethality risk assessment indicates an elevated risk of serious bodily injury or death to an alleged victim, law enforcement officers are required to:
(1) notify the alleged victim that the assessment score indicates the victim is at elevated risk of serious bodily injury or death; and
(2) with the consent of the alleged victim, facilitate the provision of immediate assistance to the victim by a high-risk domestic violence rapid-response team or other services available to victims of domestic violence.
In addition, the bill requires law enforcement officers to receive training on certain topics related to domestic violence, such as conducting a domestic violence lethality risk assessment and notifying victims when the assessment generates a score indicating an elevated risk of serious bodily injury or death from a future act of domestic violence.
The bill appropriates $2 million from the General Fund to the Department of Law and Public Safety to implement the program.
