SENATE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE

STATEMENT TO

ASSEMBLY, No. 2163

with committee amendments

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

DATED: JANUARY 14, 1997

      The Senate Judiciary Committee reports favorably and with committee amendments Assembly Bill No. 2163.

      Currently, conspiracy to commit a crime of the first degree is graded as a crime of the second degree. Otherwise, conspiracy is a crime of the same degree as the most serious crime which is the object of the conspiracy. This bill would provide that conspiracy to commit a crime set forth in N.J.S. 2C:17-1, aggravated arson or arson, is a crime of the first degree if the structure which was the target of the arson was a church, synagogue, temple or other place of public worship.

      The committee adopted technical amendments clarifying the reference to crimes defined in N.J.S.2C:17-1 that are subject to the bill’s provisions.