SENATE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE

STATEMENT TO

ASSEMBLY, No. 591

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

DATED: NOVEMBER 17, 1997

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

      Under present 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. The bill would permit any such juvenile adjudication to be considered to be a prior offense for purposes of sentencing the person as a repeat sex offender.