ASSEMBLY, No. 962

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

Introduced Pending Technical Review by Legislative Counsel

PRE-FILED FOR INTRODUCTION IN THE 1996 SESSION

By Assemblyman FELICE

An Act concerning sexual offenses and supplementing chapter 14 of Title 2C of the New Jersey Statutes.

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

    1. No person alleging to have been subjected to a sexual offense proscribed in this chapter shall be required to take or submit to a lie detector test as part of any investigation of that allegation.

    2. This act shall take effect immediately.

STATEMENT

    This bill would prohibit investigators from requiring any person alleging to be the victim of a sexual offense to take or submit to a lie detector test as part of any investigation of that allegation.

    It has come to the sponsor's attention that in other jurisdictions outside New Jersey some law enforcement agencies are at times using lie detector tests to screen or verify the allegations of persons who claim to be the victims of sexual offenses.

    The sponsor believes that this investigative approach, although not a practice in New Jersey, should be statutorily prohibited. Not only is it insensitive and demeaning, it is also meaningless since the results of lie detector tests are not admissible in New Jersey courts.

Prohibits requiring victims of sexual offenses to submit to lie detector tests.