Senate Commerce Committee Statement - Senate Bill No. 2511, State of New Jersey (June 24, 2020)

Summary

Senate Commerce Committee Statement to Senate, No. 2511, State of New Jersey, dated June 24, 2020, reporting Senate Bill No. 2511 favorably. The statement says the bill accelerates the implementation of certain provisions of P.L.2019, c.363, which changed sentencing, incarceration and parole of juveniles adjudicated delinquent, and which was enacted on January 20, 2020 with provisions not effective until November 1, 2020. The bill makes several provisions effective immediately due to adverse effects on these juveniles attributable to the COVID-19 pandemic. According to the sponsor, the fines on juveniles adjudicated delinquent are a barrier to rehabilitation and reentry, and mandatory post-incarceration supervision should be replaced by discretionary supervision under limited conditions.

Summary drafted by a model from the document's text below and checked by script against that text before publication. It is a navigation aid, not a reading of what the document proves. Where AI is used

Full text

     SENATE COMMERCE COMMITTEE

                    STATEMENT TO

                  SENATE, No. 2511

 STATE OF NEW JERSEY
                      DATED: JUNE 24, 2020

   The Senate Commerce Committee reports favorably Senate Bill
No. 2511.
   This bill accelerates the implementation of certain provisions of
P.L.2019, c.363, which made various changes to sentencing,
incarceration, and parole of juveniles adjudicated delinquent. This
law was enacted on January 20, 2020, but its provisions are not
effective until November 1, 2020.           The bill makes several
provisions of this law effective immediately due to adverse effects
on these juveniles attributable to the COVID-19 pandemic.
   Several provisions of current law authorize or require the
imposition        of     fines      on      juveniles     adjudicated
delinquent. P.L.2019, c.363 specifically eliminates the following
fines: (1) those that can be imposed at the discretion of the court as
a disposition for a juvenile adjudicated delinquent; (2) mandatory
assessments imposed for certain controlled dangerous substance
violations which are allocated to the Drug Enforcement and
Demand Reduction (“DEDR”) Fund; and (3) mandatory
assessments for convictions of violent crimes that are dedicated to
purposes benefiting victims of crime.
   According to the sponsor, fines imposed on juveniles adjudicated
delinquent have proven to be an undue barrier to successful
rehabilitation and reentry of these juveniles because they often
result in the criminalization of poverty and the exacerbation of
racial disparities. As such, the Legislature made a policy decision to
eliminate certain juvenile delinquency fines in P.L.2019, c.363.
The burden these fines constitute has been further exacerbated
during the COVID-19 pandemic. Therefore, there should be no
delay in eliminating these fines.
   The sponsor further notes that in some instances juveniles
currently subject to mandatory post-incarceration supervision
because of the extended effective date of P.L.2019, c.363 are being
returned to custody for technical violations. These juveniles are
being put in unnecessary danger of contracting COVID-19 for
minor infractions. Therefore, the provisions of P.L.2019, c.363
replacing the current mandatory term of post-incarceration with
                             2

discretionary post-incarceration supervision imposed only under
strictly limited conditions should immediately be implemented to
protect the health and safety of both the juveniles and the
community during the COVID-19 pandemic.


File and source

File

2020-06-24_SCM_S2511_S1.pdf

Size

116,150 bytes

SHA-256

7d7b68a18dcca13ca3df285648530f8159022c8e177514185a3ddd945092fabc

Our copy

2020-06-24_SCM_S2511_S1.pdf

Original

No public link identified.