SENATE, No. 1082

 

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

 

INTRODUCED MAY 9, 1996

 

 

By Senators CONNORS, BASSANO and Singer

 

 

An Act concerning the crime of arson and amending N.J.S.2C:17-1.

 

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

 

    1. N.J.S.2C:17-1 is amended to read as follows:

    2C:17-1 a. Aggravated arson. A person is guilty of aggravated arson, a crime of the second degree, if he starts a fire or causes an explosion, whether on his own property or another's:

    (1) Thereby purposely or knowingly placing another person in danger of death or bodily injury; or

    (2) With the purpose of destroying a building or structure of another; or

    (3) With the purpose of collecting insurance for the destruction or damage to such property under circumstances which recklessly place any other person in danger of death or bodily injury; or

    (4) With the purpose of destroying or damaging a structure in order to exempt the structure, completely or partially, from the provisions of any State, county or local zoning, planning or building law, regulation, ordinance or enactment under circumstances which recklessly place any other person in danger or death or bodily injury; or

    (5) With the purpose of destroying or damaging any forest.

    b. Arson. A person is guilty of arson, a crime of the third degree, if he purposely starts a fire or causes an explosion, whether on his own

 property or another's:

    (1) Thereby recklessly placing another person in danger of death or bodily injury; or

    (2) Thereby recklessly placing a building or structure of another in danger of damage or destruction; or

    (3) With the purpose of collecting insurance for the destruction or damage to such property; or

    (4) With the purpose of destroying or damaging a structure in order to exempt the structure, completely or partially, from the provisions of any State, county or local zoning, planning or building law, regulation, ordinance or enactment ; or

    (5) Thereby recklessly placing a forest in danger of damage or destruction.

    c. Failure to control or report dangerous fire. A person who knows that a fire is endangering life or a substantial amount of property of another and either fails to take reasonable measures to put out or control the fire, when he can do so without substantial risk to himself, or to give prompt fire alarm, commits a crime of the fourth degree if:

    (1) He knows that he is under an official, contractual, or other legal duty to prevent or combat the fire; or

    (2) The fire was started, albeit lawfully, by him or with his assent, or on property in his custody or control.

    d. Any person who, directly or indirectly, pays or accepts or offers to pay or accept any form of consideration including, but not limited to, money or any other pecuniary benefit, regardless of whether any consideration is actually exchanged for the purpose of starting a fire or causing an explosion in violation of this section commits a crime of the first degree.

    e. Notwithstanding the provisions of any section of this Title to the contrary, if a person is convicted of aggravated arson pursuant to the provisions of subsection a. of this section and the structure which was the target of the offense was a health care facility or a physician's office, the sentence imposed shall include a term of imprisonment. The court may not suspend or make any other noncustodial disposition of a person sentenced pursuant to the provisions of this subsection.

    f. Definitions. "Structure" is defined in section 2C:18-1. Property is that of another, for the purpose of this section, if any one other than the actor has a possessory [or], or other legal or equitable proprietary interest therein. Property is that of another for the purpose of this section, if anyone other than the actor has a legal or equitable interest in the property including, but not limited to, a mortgage, pledge, lien or security interest therein. If a building or structure is divided into separately occupied units, any unit not occupied by the actor is an occupied structure of another.

    As used in this section, "forest" means and includes any forest, brush land, grass land, salt marsh, wooded area and any combination thereof, including but not limited to, an open space area, public lands, wetlands, park lands, natural habitats, a State conservation area, and a wildlife refuge area or any other designated undeveloped open space whether or not it is subject to specific protection under law.

    As used in this section, "health care facility" means health care facility as defined in section 2 of P.L.1971, c.136 (C.26:2H-2).

(cf: P.L.1991, c.498, s.1.)


    2. This act shall take effect immediately .

 

 

STATEMENT

 

    This bill amends the arson statute, N.J.S.2C:17-1, to address several specific ways in which to strengthen that statute and its applicability to forms of this dangerous behavior.

    The bill adds two new definitions to aggravated arson. The addition of new paragraph (4) in subsection a. of N.J.S.2C:17-1 is intended to address the problem of property owners who burn their commercial or residential structure for the purpose of avoiding zoning regulations, wetlands restrictions and shoreline development regulations. Arson investigators have encountered situations where property owners have either completely or partially destroyed their building by fire in order to exempt the building from lot size requirements for additions, renovations and remodeling or commercial property owners have burned their buildings, not for the purpose of collecting insurance money, but to exempt themselves from zoning approvals they cannot obtain for expansion, renovation or remodeling.

    The proposed addition to the arson statute is intended to eliminate any possibility that arson may provide a less expensive means of avoiding planning board approval for renovations which may be unacceptable as violating local zoning and planning ordinances.

    The addition of new paragraph (5) to subsection a. is intended to provide a criminal sanction for setting so-called "brush fires". While N.J.S.2C:17-2, the crime of causing or risking widespread injury or damage may have applicability in certain situations, it is limited because that statute requires that a risk of serious bodily injury be posed to a least 10 or more people or damage to 10 or more habitations or to a building which would normally contain 50 or more people st the time of the offense. Given these requirements, N.J.S.2C:17-2 may not address the problem of brush fires. This proposed addition to the arson statute is needed to address the serious environmental, ecological and economic consequences of the type of fire which occurred in the Pinelands Reserve in 1995.

    The bill makes parallel changes in subsection b. be adding new paragraphs (4) and (5) to that subsection concerning the third degree crime of arson.

    The bill makes a change to subsection d. of N.J.S.2C:17-1 concerning the first degree crime of arson committed by a person who accepts consideration for starting a fire or causing an explosion. The change is intended to codify the rule of State v. Chiarulli 234 N.J. Super. 192 (App. Div. 1989) by clarifying that in a case where the arsonist is unable to collect his fee, he may nevertheless be convicted of this first degree offense.

    The bill adds language in subsection f. concerning the definition of "structure" and is intended to eliminate any question which may arise where a person burns a building for which that person is listed as the "owner". The amendment recognizes the various legal and equitable interests which others have in buildings which appear to be "owned" by another. It is intended to protect the rights of mortgage holders (i.e. lending institutions), joint tenants, tenants in common and lien holders. An example of the type of conduct the amendment seeks to criminalize is the intentional setting of a fire to a private residence by the titled owner because the home is subject to foreclosure and the owner would rather burn it down than lose it to the bank. The bill also adds a definition of "forest."

    This bill is one of a package of three bills introduced as a result of efforts of the Ocean County Prosecutor's Special Arson Investigation Task Force.

 

 

                             

 

Makes various changes to the statute concerning the crime of arson.