SENATE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE

STATEMENT TO

[First Reprint]

ASSEMBLY, No. 1598

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

DATED: DECEMBER 16, 1996

      The Senate Judiciary Committee reports favorably Assembly Bill No. 1598 (1R).

      Under this bill, throwing bodily fluids at a Department of Corrections employee or otherwise purposely subjecting a corrections employee to contact with bodily fluids would constitute aggravated assault. Aggravated assault under these circumstances would constitute a crime of the third degree. Otherwise a crime under this bill would be graded as a crime of the fourth degree with a minimum term of imprisonment of 12 months.

      This bill defines bodily fluid as saliva, blood, urine, feces, seminal fluid or any other bodily fluid. Department of Corrections employee is defined as any corrections officer, parole officer or other employee of the New Jersey Department of Corrections and any person under contract to provide services to the department.

      This bill also provides that nothing in the bill precludes an indictment and conviction for murder, manslaughter or aggravated assault, or any other criminal offense, if the evidence warrants.