Bill Text: NJ S78 | 2022-2023 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Requires Attorney General to develop program to assist schools in identifying at-risk youths.
Spectrum: Slight Partisan Bill (Democrat 2-1)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2022-01-11 - Introduced in the Senate, Referred to Senate Law and Public Safety Committee [S78 Detail]
Download: New_Jersey-2022-S78-Introduced.html
Sponsored by:
Senator ROBERT W. SINGER
District 30 (Monmouth and Ocean)
Senator JOSEPH F. VITALE
District 19 (Middlesex)
Co-Sponsored by:
Senator Greenstein
SYNOPSIS
Requires Attorney General to develop program to assist schools in identifying at-risk youths.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
Introduced Pending Technical Review by Legislative Counsel.
An Act establishing a program for at-risk youth and supplementing Title 52 of the Revised Statutes.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. a. As used in this act:
"At-risk youth" means an elementary, middle, or high school student who has been involved in a traumatic event in the community; and
"Traumatic event" means an incident involving a law enforcement response and shall include, but not be limited to, an at-risk youth being: arrested; reported missing; subjected to violence, including domestic violence; a witness to the arrest of a parent or family member; habitually truant; affected by family substance abuse problems; or any other event law enforcement perceives as traumatic to the youth.
b. The Attorney General, in consultation with the Commissioner of Education, shall establish a program to require law enforcement agencies to coordinate with local school districts to identify at-risk youth within their communities. Under the program, when an at-risk youth is involved in a traumatic event, the responding law enforcement agency shall submit a notification informing the appropriate safe schools resource officer or designated school liaison that the at-risk youth has been involved in a traumatic event. The notification shall include the name of the at-risk youth and the date on which the traumatic event occurred. A notification submitted pursuant to this subsection shall not include the specific details of the traumatic event.
c. Upon receiving a notification pursuant to subsection b. of this section, the school attended by the at-risk youth may take appropriate action and seek available social and developmental resources for the at-risk youth.
d. The Attorney General shall develop and submit to law enforcement agencies a standard form to be used when notifying a school of at-risk youth's involvement in a traumatic event.
2. This act shall take effect on the first day of the seventh month following enactment, but the Attorney General and the Commissioner of Education may take any anticipatory administrative action in advance thereof as may be necessary for the implementation of this act.
STATEMENT
This bill requires the Attorney
General, in consultation with the Commissioner of Education, to establish a law
enforcement
rogram to assist schools in identifying and aiding at-risk youths.
The bill defines "at-risk youth" as an elementary, middle, or high school student who has been involved in a traumatic event in the community. "Traumatic event" is defined as an incident involving a law enforcement response and shall include, but not be limited to, an at-risk youth being: arrested; reported missing; subjected to violence, including domestic violence; a witness to the arrest of a parent or family member; habitually truant; diagnosed with a mental health issue or substance abuse issue; affected by family substance abuse problems; or any other event law enforcement perceives as traumatic to the youth.
Under the program, when an at-risk youth is involved in a traumatic event, the responding law enforcement agency would be required to submit a notification informing the appropriate safe schools resource officer or designated school liaison that the at-risk youth has been involved in a traumatic event. The bill requires the notification include the name of the at-risk youth and the date on which traumatic event occurred. However, the notification would not include the specific details of the traumatic event. Upon receiving the notification, the school attended by the at-risk youth may take appropriate action and seek available social and developmental resources for the at-risk youth.
The bill requires the Attorney General to develop and submit to law enforcement agencies a standard form to be used when reporting an at-risk youth's involvement in a traumatic event.
