Bill Text: NJ S1071 | 2010-2011 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Clarifies authority of "Blue Ribbon Panel for Review of Long-Term Prisoners' Parole Eligibility" to review only cases of parole eligible inmates.
Sponsorship: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2010-02-04 - Introduced in the Senate, Referred to Senate Law and Public Safety Committee [S1071 Detail]
Download: New_Jersey-2010-S1071-Introduced.html
SENATE, No. 1071
STATE OF NEW JERSEY
214th LEGISLATURE
INTRODUCED FEBRUARY 4, 2010
Sponsored by:
Senator SHIRLEY K. TURNER
District 15 (Mercer)
SYNOPSIS
Clarifies authority of "Blue Ribbon Panel for Review of Long-Term Prisoners' Parole Eligibility" to review only cases of parole eligible inmates.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As introduced.
An Act concerning the authority of the "Blue Ribbon Panel for Review of Long-Term Prisoners' Parole Eligibility" and amending P.L.2009, c.329.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. Section 11 of P.L.2009, c.329 (C. ) is amended to read as follows:
11. a. (1) There is hereby created in the State Parole Board a committee known as the "Blue Ribbon Panel for Review of Long-Term Prisoners' Parole Eligibility." The committee shall be comprised of six members who are residents of this State, who shall have served as judges, prosecutors or public defenders but are not currently serving as judges, prosecutors or public defenders. The members of the committee shall be appointed by the Governor, without regard to the appointees' political affiliations and shall be subject to removal by the Governor at any time for good and sufficient cause. The chairperson of the committee shall be designated by the Governor.
(2) The members appointed by the Governor pursuant to this section shall be appointed for terms of six years. All appointed members shall serve after the expiration of their terms until their respective successors are appointed and shall qualify. Vacancies shall be filled for the unexpired term.
(3) Members of the committee shall receive no compensation for services, but shall be reimbursed for actual expenditures incurred in the performance of their duties.
b. It shall be the duty of the committee to consider if [prisoners] parole eligible inmates who have been incarcerated and served more than 20 years of their sentences should be [eligible for] granted parole and submit any recommendations for parole to the appropriate parole board panel with a written recommendation regarding the case. The committee shall have discretion to determine whether to consider [a prisoner's] a parole eligible inmate's case and the committee shall also have the discretion to make recommendations regarding any case that the committee has considered. Nothing in this section shall be construed to in any way amend or modify any law or regulation regarding criminal sentencing, parole eligibility, or parole release decisions, or to otherwise alter any period of parole ineligibility imposed on any defendant as part of a criminal sentence.
(cf: P.L.2009, c.329, s.11)
2. This act shall take effect immediately.
STATEMENT
This bill would clarify the duties of the "Blue Ribbon Panel for Review of Long-Term Prisoners' Parole Eligibility" as established in P.L.2009, c.329.
Currently, the duty of this blue ribbon panel is to consider whether prisoners who have been incarcerated and have served more than 20 years of their sentences should be eligible for parole. The panel is to submit written recommendations to the appropriate parole board panel.
The bill narrows the scope of the panel's duties by limiting the panel to considering the cases of those inmates only if they already are eligible for parole. For example, the panel could not consider the case of an inmate who is serving a sentence of life imprisonment without possibility of parole or an inmate who must serve 20 or more years before becoming eligible for parole during this period of parole ineligibility.
The bill further specifies that the recommendations of the panel are not to be construed to amend or alter existing laws or regulations regarding criminal sentencing, parole eligibility, or parole release decisions or change any period of parole ineligibility imposed on any defendant as part of a criminal sentence.
