ASSEMBLY, No. 688

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

Introduced Pending Technical Review by Legislative Counsel

PRE-FILED FOR INTRODUCTION IN THE 1996 SESSION

By Assemblyman ZISA and Assemblywoman WEINBERG

An Act concerning crime victims and supplementing Title 52 of the Revised Statutes.

    Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:

    1. The court may not accept any negotiated plea, any agreement between the prosecution and a defendant concerning an offense to which the defendant will plead guilty, any agreement concerning the defendant's sentence or the dismissal of any charge unless the State has made a reasonable effort to notify the victim of the offense and the complainant so as to inform them of the arrangement or dismissal sufficiently in advance of the court's consideration of the matter to allow the victim and complainant a reasonable opportunity to submit a statement to the prosecutor and the court concerning the impact of the crime and the disposition of the case.

    As used in this act, "victim" has the meaning attributed to it by section 1 of P.L.1985, c.404 (C.52:4B-39). "Complainant" means a person who filed charges against the defendant or brought the commission of an offense to the attention of law enforcement authorities.

    2. This act shall take effect immediately.

STATEMENT

    This bill would require that crime victims and complainants be informed in advance of pending plea bargains and dismissals of charges in their cases. Victims and complainants would have to be informed sufficiently in advance to allow them a reasonable opportunity to submit statements to the prosecutor and the court concerning the impact of the crime.

Requires that crime victims and complainants be notified in advance of pending plea bargains and dismissal of charges.