Bill > S491

Introduced Session

This bill concerns the participation of persons in special probation drug court. Specifically, the bill would impact participation in three ways: (1) It would establish special probation drug court eligibility for two classes of persons with either prior or pending involvement with the criminal justice system. The first new class of persons would be those previously convicted or adjudicated delinquent, or facing a pending charge, for an aggravated assault of the third or fourth degree - currently aggravated assault of any degree renders a person automatically ineligible for drug court participation. The second new class of persons would be those with certain multiple, older criminal convictions that are at least five years old, provided the court found that the program would be beneficial in addressing their drug or alcohol dependency and reduce the likelihood of future criminal behavior. As to the first class of newly eligible drug court participants, aggravated assault of any degree is currently included in a list of violent crimes for which even one previous conviction or adjudication of delinquency, or one pending charge, renders a person ineligible; the other crimes rendering someone automatically ineligible include murder, aggravated manslaughter, manslaughter, kidnapping, aggravated sexual assault, and sexual assault. The bill would create an exception for persons with a lower level aggravated assault graded as a crime of the third or fourth degree, so that such persons could have one or more previous convictions or adjudications of delinquency, or a pending charge, and still be eligible to participate in the drug court program. As to the second class of newly eligible participants based upon previous, older convictions, a person is currently ineligible for the drug court program if: (1) that person has been previously convicted on at least two separate occasions for crimes of the first or second degree, unless any one of those convictions was for a violent crime rendering the person automatically ineligible (see above); or (2) that person has been previously convicted on at least two separate occasions, based on one offense being a crime of the first or second degree not rendering the person automatically ineligible, and the other offense being a crime of the third degree, not counting any crime of the third degree for possessing a controlled dangerous substance pursuant to N.J.S.2C:35-10 (such criminal possession convictions do not court towards the two conviction "cap" on eligibility). This criterion concerning past convictions would remain in place; however, the bill would permit a person with two or more past convictions to be eligible for special probation drug court, so long as none of the convictions rendered the person automatically ineligible and the convictions were at least five years old, not counting any criminal possession convictions (such convictions, even if more recent, would not alter the person's eligibility). However, such newly eligible person would only be granted entry if the court determined that the program would be beneficial in addressing the person's drug or alcohol dependency and reduce the likelihood that the person would thereafter commit another offense - this court determination applies to all eligible participants under existing law but is reiterated with respect to potential participants with older convictions to emphasize that enrollment is still discretionary as determined by the court, even if the past convictions no longer bar participation. (2) The bill would permit a person who was removed from the special probation drug court program for violating the terms of special probation, and thus facing imprisonment for the crime for which diversion into the program was originally granted, to be eligible for subsequent entry into the Judiciary's Intensive Supervision Program (a form of highly supervised parole). Under the current law, the person is ineligible to enter this other supervisory program. (3) Lastly, the bill would clarify that, in order for a person to be eligible to be granted a post-program expungement of their records, the person must have successfully "graduated" from the special probation drug court program, and not been convicted of any offense committed during the course of the program - such a conviction would prevent a person from being granted the post-program expungement.

AI Summary

Committee Categories

Chris Brown (R)*,  Nick Scutari (D)*,  Sandra Cunningham (D),  Nia Gill (D),  Declan O'Scanlon (R),  Joe Vitale (D), 

Combined with S241 (SCS) (on 03/19/2020)

Official Document