ASSEMBLY LAW AND PUBLIC SAFETY COMMITTEE

STATEMENT TO

SENATE, No. 1639

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

DATED: JUNE 9, 1997

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

      Senate Bill No. 1639 directs the Commissioner of Corrections to establish a program to record and analyze the recidivism rates of inmates who have completed their sentence in, or been paroled from, the Adult Diagnostic and Treatment Center (ADTC). The purpose of the program is to determine the effectiveness of the treatment received by repetitive and compulsive sex offenders while incarcerated in the ADTC.

      Under the program, arrests and convictions occurring in the five-year period following the release of each sex offender will be recorded. This information will be analyzed to determine the effect of sex offenders' criminal histories, personalities, treatment, sentences, parole conditions and other relevant factors on recidivism rates. This data will then be compared to data on recidivism rates of persons released from the general prison population and to data on sex offenders who have participated in similar specialized treatment programs in other jurisdictions.

      The Department of Corrections is required to report to the Governor and the Legislature the program's findings and any corollary legislative recommendations on how the treatment received by sex offenders at the ADTC can be improved.

      The establishment of such a program was recommended by the Joint Task Force to Study the Adult Diagnostic and Treatment Center in its June, 1995 report.

      This bill is identical to Assembly Bill No. 2474.