SENATE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE

STATEMENT TO

SENATE, No. 1608

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

DATED: DECEMBER 16, 1996

      The Senate Judiciary Committee reports favorably Senate Bill No. 1608.

      N.J.S.2C:29-3 criminalizes acts that hinder the apprehension and prosecution of persons in criminal cases. This bill substitutes the word "gives" for the word "volunteers" in both subsection a. of 2C:29-3, which deals with the provision of false information for the purpose of hindering the apprehension of another, and subsection b. of 2C:29-3, which deals with the provision of false information for the purpose of hindering one's own apprehension. It also clarifies that a person who gives false information to law enforcement officials to hinder one's own or another's lawful "detention" or "investigation" also commits the offense.

      In State v. Valentin, 105 N.J.14 (1987), the Supreme Court held that the use of the word "volunteer" is "too ambiguous to justify a conviction" of a person who provides or gives a false or fictitious name or other information in response to a police officer's inquiry. The Court in Valentin did not hold N.J.S.2C:29-3 unconstitutional. Rather, the Court only held that it is "sufficiently ambiguous to preclude its application" to a defendant who provides or gives a false name or other false or fictitious biographical data "without a clarifying amendment."

      This bill provides the "clarifying amendment," as recommended by the Court, and supplies law enforcement with a precise provision that responds to persons who purposely or knowingly provide or otherwise give false or fictitious information, names, addresses or other biographical data for the express purpose of throwing the police off track, and avoiding, or assisting another in avoiding, responsibility for criminal activity.