Bill Text: NJ S3291 | 2024-2025 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Amends "three strikes law" to apply only to persons over 18 years of age.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Introduced) 2024-05-20 - Introduced in the Senate, Referred to Senate Judiciary Committee [S3291 Detail]
Download: New_Jersey-2024-S3291-Introduced.html
Sponsored by:
Senator SHIRLEY K. TURNER
District 15 (Hunterdon and Mercer)
SYNOPSIS
Amends "three strikes law" to apply only to persons over 18 years of age.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As introduced.
An Act concerning the "three strikes law" and amending P.L.1995, c.126.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. Section 2 of P.L.1995, c.126 (C.2C:43-7.1) is amended to read as follows:
2. a. Life Imprisonment Without Parole. A person convicted of a crime under any of the following: N.J.S.2C:11-3; subsection a. of N.J.S.2C:11-4; a crime of the first degree under N.J.S.2C:13-1, paragraphs (3) through (6) of subsection a. of N.J.S.2C:14-2; N.J.S.2C:15-1; or section 1 of P.L.1993, c.221 (C.2C:15-2), who has been convicted of two or more crimes that were committed on prior and separate occasions, regardless of the dates of the convictions, excluding any crime that was committed when the person was a juvenile, under any of the foregoing sections or under any similar statute of the United States, this State, or any other state for a crime that is substantially equivalent to a crime under any of the foregoing sections, shall be sentenced to a term of life imprisonment by the court, with no eligibility for parole. "Juvenile" means an individual who is under the age of 18 years.
b. Extended Term for Repeat Violent Offenders. A person shall be sentenced to an extended term of imprisonment pursuant to N.J.S.2C:43-7 if:
(1) The person is convicted of any of the following crimes: a crime of the second degree under N.J.S.2C:11-4; a crime of the second or third degree under subsection b. of N.J.S.2C:12-1; a crime of the second degree under N.J.S.2C:13-1; a crime under N.J.S.2C:14-3 for aggravated criminal sexual contact under any of the circumstances set forth in paragraphs (3) through (6) of subsection a. of N.J.S.2C:14-2; a crime of the second degree under N.J.S.2C:15-1; a crime of the second degree under N.J.S.2C:18-2; or a crime of the second degree under N.J.S.2C:39-4 for possession of a weapon with the purpose of using it unlawfully against the person of another, and the person has been convicted of any of the foregoing crimes or any of the crimes enumerated in subsection a. of this section or under any similar statute of the United States, this State, or any other state for a crime that is substantially equivalent to a crime enumerated in this subsection or in subsection a. of this section committed on two or more prior and separate occasions regardless of the dates of the convictions; or
(2) The person is convicted of a crime enumerated in subsection a. of this section, does not have two or more prior convictions that require sentencing under subsection a. and has two or more prior convictions that would require sentencing under paragraph (1) of this subsection if the person had been convicted of a crime enumerated in paragraph (1).
c. The provisions of this section shall not apply unless the prior convictions are for crimes committed on separate occasions and unless the crime for which the defendant is being sentenced was committed either within 10 years of the date of the defendant's last release from confinement for commission of any crime or within 10 years of the date of the commission of the most recent of the crimes for which the defendant has a prior conviction.
d. The court shall not impose a sentence of imprisonment pursuant to this section, unless the ground therefor has been established at a hearing after the conviction of the defendant and on written notice to the defendant of the ground proposed. The defendant shall have the right to hear and controvert the evidence against him and to offer evidence upon the issue. Prior convictions shall be defined and proven in accordance with N.J.S.2C:44-4.
e. For purposes of this section, a term of life shall mean the natural life of a person sentenced pursuant to this section. Except that a defendant who is at least 70 years of age and who has served at least 35 years in prison pursuant to a sentence imposed under this section shall be released on parole if the full Parole Board determines that the defendant is not a danger to the safety of any other person or the community.
(cf: P.L.2003, c.48, s.1)
2. This act shall take effect immediately.
STATEMENT
This bill provides that the State's "three strikes law" applies only when each of the predicate offenses occurred when the defendant was over the age of 18 years.
N.J.S.A.2C:43-7.1, the "Persistent Offenders Accountability Act," also known as the "three strikes law," requires a court to sentence a person convicted of certain serious crimes to a term of life imprisonment without eligibility for parole if the person has had two or more prior convictions for these crimes, committed on prior and separate occasions, regardless of the dates of the convictions. The serious crimes enumerated in the law are murder, aggravated manslaughter, kidnapping in the first degree, sexual assault, carjacking, and robbery in the first degree.
This bill reverses the New Jersey Supreme Court's recent decision in State v. Ryan, 249 N.J. 581 (2022). In that case, the court held that juvenile convictions for enumerated crimes are considered predicate offenses (or "strikes") for determining whether the person is sentenced to life imprisonment without eligibility for parole.
By amending the "three strikes law" to exclude juvenile convictions, judges are accorded discretion to appropriately sentence a person after being able to assess the age of the defendant and all of the underlying circumstances relating to each of the conditions and the defendant's individual circumstances, rather than a strict application resulting in a life sentence without eligibility for parole. Justice Albin in his dissent in State v. Ryan states that "under the Eighth Amendment and Article I, Paragraph 12 of the State Constitution, judges cannot be denied discretion in determining whether a juvenile conviction can be the basis for a predicate offense under the Three Strikes law for the purpose of sentencing a 23 year old to a lifetime of imprisonment."
