ASSEMBLY LAW AND PUBLIC SAFETY COMMITTEE

 

STATEMENT TO

 

ASSEMBLY, No. 2958

 

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

 

DATED: JUNE 9, 1997

 

      The Assembly Law and Public Safety Committee reports favorably Assembly Bill No. 2958.

      Assembly Bill No. 2958, the "Anti-Drug Profiteering Act," authorizes enhanced penalties for persons found guilty of dealing large amounts of drugs for profit.

      Under the provisions of the bill, the court, upon application of the prosecutor, is authorized to impose an additional monetary penalty on such defendants. In the case of a person convicted of a crime of the first degree, the additional penalty would be $200,000; $100,000 in the case of a crime of the second degree; $50,000 in the case of a crime of the third degree; and $25,000 in the case of a crime of the fourth degree. Alternatively, the court may impose a penalty in an amount equal to three times the street value of all the controlled dangerous substances or controlled substance analogs involved in the crime if that amount is greater. The bill specifies that the penalty may be satisfied by a judgment against any of the defendant's assets.

      A drug dealer would be subject to these enhanced penalties if any of the following conditions apply:

      (1) The defendant is convicted of a violation of N.J.S.2C:35-3 (leader of a narcotics trafficking network); a violation of subsection g. of N.J.S.2C:5-2 (leader of organized crime); or a racketeering offense defined in chapter 41 of Title 2C of the New Jersey Statutes which involves drug dealing.

      (2) The defendant is a "drug profiteer." The bill provides that a defendant is a "drug profiteer" when the conduct constituting the crime for which he was convicted shows that he "has knowingly engaged in the illegal manufacture, distribution or transportation of any CDS [controlled dangerous substance] or drug paraphernalia as a substantial source of livelihood."

      (3) The defendant is a "wholesale drug distributor." A defendant qualifies as a "wholesale drug distributor" when the conduct constituting the crime for which he is convicted involves the manufacture, distribution or intent to distribute a CDS [controlled dangerous substance] to another for pecuniary gain, "knowing, believing, or under circumstances where it reasonably could be assumed that the other person would, in turn, distribute the CDS to

 

another for pecuniary gain."

      (4) The defendant is a "professional drug distributor." A defendant is considered a "professional drug distributor" if he "at any time, for pecuniary gain, unlawfully distributed a CDS [controlled dangerous substance] or drug paraphernalia to three or more different persons or on five or more separate occasions."

      The provisions of this bill embody proposals set forth in Recommendation 11 and Recommendation 4 of the Attorney General's "Report to the Governor on the Need to Update the Comprehensive Drug Reform Act of 1987," issued December 9, 1996.