SENATE LAW AND PUBLIC SAFETY COMMITTEE

STATEMENT TO

SENATE, No. 1639

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

DATED: MARCH 3, 1997

      The Senate Law and Public Safety Committee reports favorably Senate Bill No. 1639.

      The Adult Diagnostic and Treatment Center (ADTC) at Avenel is charged with providing specialized treatment to change the behavior of persons sentenced as repetitive and compulsive sex offenders. However, as noted in the report of the Joint Task Force to Study the Adult Diagnostic and Treatment Center, the center does not systematically track the recidivism of former inmates. The lack of reliable recidivism data thwarts efforts to gauge the success of this specialized correctional facility or the efficacy of various treatment modalities.

      This bill would implement a recommendation by the task force in its June, 1995 report by requiring the Commissioner of Corrections to establish a program to record and analyze the recidivism of all inmates who are released from the center. The program would record the arrests and any subsequent convictions of inmates for five years following their release. It would then analyze the recidivism information to determine its relationship to inmate characteristics, the crimes for which they were incarcerated, types of treatment provided and conditions of parole. The commissioner is also directed to compare the recidivism of ADTC inmates with that of inmates released from the State's general prison population and inmates released from specialized sex offender programs in other states. The commissioner would be required to report the results of the recidivism study to the Governor and the Legislature.