FISCAL NOTE TO

ASSEMBLY, No. 2606

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

DATED: MAY 16, 1997

      Assembly Bill No. 2606 of 1996 prohibits the possession of weapons within 1,000 feet of any school, college, university or other educational institution. A weapon is defined in the New Jersey statutes as anything readily capable of lethal use or of inflicting serious bodily injury, including firearms, various types of knives, billies, blackjacks, bludgeons, metal knuckles, sandclubs, cestus or other similar leather bands studded with metal filings or razor blades imbedded in wood, and stun guns. A person who knowingly violates this prohibition is guilty of a crime of the third degree. Under the bill a person may not use as a defense from prosecution the claim that he was unaware that he was within 1,000 feet of school property. The prohibition does not apply to persons legally authorized or permitted to carry or possess weapons under the provisions of N.J.S.2C:39-6, N.J.S.2C:58-4 or any other provisions of law. The bill specifically prohibits the merging of convictions.

      The Administrative Office of the Courts (AOC) states that in 1995 there were 933 convictions for the unlawful possession of a weapon, currently, a fourth degree crime. However, no data have been collected concerning the location of these offenses, and therefore it cannot estimate the number occurring within 1,000 feet of a school.

      The Department of Corrections states that the implementation of this bill would increase departmental bed space needs. However, the extent of that increase is unknown and cannot be ascertained because of the lack of data concerning offenses committed in schools or in the proposed "weapon-free school zones".

      The Office of Legislative Services (OLS) concurs and adds that any individual convicted of a second degree offense would be sentenced to five to ten years in prison. An individual convicted of a third degree offense would receive a sentence of three to five years and an individual convicted of fourth degree crime would receive up to eighteen months. In each case, the inmate usually serves about one-third of the sentence. The OLS also notes that DOC data indicate that the cost of constructing one additional prison bed space is about $95,000. The ongoing operations expenses of housing a State sentenced prison inmate is $26,000 per year for the duration of that offender's incarceration.

This fiscal note has been prepared pursuant to P.L.1980, c.67.