SENATE, No. 532

 

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

 

INTRODUCED JANUARY 29, 1996

 

 

By Senator BASSANO

 

 

An Act concerning employing a juvenile in the commission of a crime and supplementing Title 2C of the New Jersey Statutes.

 

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

 

    1. a. A person who is at least 18 years of age who knowingly uses, solicits, directs, hires or employs a person 17 years of age or younger to commit any crime is guilty of a crime of the second degree.

    b. It shall be no defense to a prosecution under this act that the actor mistakenly believed that the person which the actor used, solicited, directed, hired or employed was older than 17 years of age, even if such mistaken belief was reasonable.

    c. Nothing in this act shall be construed to preclude or limit a prosecution or conviction for any other provision of law governing an actor's liability for the conduct of another.

    d. It shall be an affirmative defense to prosecution under this section that the actor using, soliciting, directing, hiring or employing a juvenile was, at the time of the commission of the offense, less than two years older than the juvenile.

 

    2. This act shall take effect immediately.

 

 

STATEMENT

 

    The bill creates the offense of employing a juvenile in the commission of a crime. Under the bill, this offense would be classified as a crime of the second degree. Crimes of the second degree are punishable by between 5 and 10 years imprisonment, a fine of up to $100,000 or both.

    This bill also provides that it is no defense that the adult mistakenly believed the person used to commit the crime was over 17 even if that belief was reasonable.

    The bill further provides that if a person was less than two years older than the juvenile, that this circumstance would constitute a defense to a charge of using a juvenile in the commission of a crime.

                             

 

Creates offense of employing a juvenile in the commission of a crime.