ASSEMBLY JUDICIARY COMMITTEE

STATEMENT TO

ASSEMBLY, No. 591

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

DATED: JUNE 10, 1996

      The Assembly Judiciary Committee reports favorably Assembly Bill No. 591.

      Under current law, a person who is convicted a second or subsequent time of aggravated sexual assault, sexual assault or aggravated criminal sexual contact must serve a mandatory minimum term of imprisonment of five years. However, if the person was previously adjudicated delinquent as a juvenile for an act which would constitute such a sex crime if it had been committed by an adult, the adjudication is not considered to be a prior conviction and the person is treated as a first offender. This bill would permit any such previous adjudications to be considered to be prior offenses for purposes of sentencing the person as a repeat sex offender. The bill makes the reference to juvenile adjudications in N.J.S.2C:14-6 in a separate subsection b. which permits the judge to impose the fixed minimum sentence but which does not require it.

      This bill was prefiled for introduction in the 1996 session pending technical review. As reported, the bill includes the changes required by technical review which has been performed.