Bill > S1697

Introduced Session

This bill provides that certain crime victim's location, including victims of stalking, domestic violence, assault and harassment, are confidential and shall not appear on any law enforcement or court documents or records to which the defendant has access, or, could become so by court order. By operation of law victims of domestic violence related crimes and victims of stalking would not be required to apply for an order. Victims of assault, harassment or cyber-harassment could apply for an order for location confidentiality. Section 1 amends P.L. 1996, c.39 (C.2C:12-10.1). This statute provides that a judgment of conviction for stalking operates as an application for a permanent restraining order limiting the contact of the defendant and the victim. A hearing will be held on the application for a permanent restraining order at the time of the verdict or plea of guilty unless the victim requests otherwise. The bill provides that at the time of a stalking conviction, the victim's location shall be confidential and shall not appear on any law enforcement or court documents or records to which the defendant shall have access. Section 2 amends N.J.S.A.2C:25-25 to provide that in a criminal complaint arising from a domestic violence incident, the victim's location shall be confidential and shall not appear on any law enforcement or court documents or records to which the defendant has access. Section 3 amends section 2 of P.L.1999, c.47 (C.2C:12-10.2). This statute provides that in any case involving an allegation of stalking where the victim is a child under the age of 18 or is developmentally disabled as defined in section 3 of P.L.1977, c.200 (C.5:5-44.4) or is 18 years of age or older and has a mental disease or defect which renders the victim temporarily or permanently incapable of understanding the nature of his conduct, including, but not limited to, being incapable of providing consent, the court may issue a temporary restraining order against the defendant which limits the contact of the defendant and the victim. The bill provides that in these cases, the location of the victim and the location of the parent or guardian shall be confidential and shall not appear on law enforcement or court documents or records to which the defendant has access. Section 4 supplements the law to provide that in a criminal complaint involving an allegation of stalking the victim's location shall be confidential and shall not appear on law enforcement or court documents or records to which the defendant has access. Section 5 amends section 11 of P.L.1991, c.261 (C.2C:25-27). This statute concerns procedures when a defendant is found guilty of a crime or offense involving domestic violence. The bill clarifies that upon the defendant's conviction the victim's location would remain confidential and not appear on any law enforcement or court documents or records to which the defendant has access. Additional sections of the bill provide that a victim of assault pursuant to N.J.S.2C:12-1, harassment pursuant to N.J.S.2C:33-4 or cyber-harassment pursuant to section 1 of P.L. 2013, c.272 (C.2C:33-4.1, can apply to the court for an order providing that the victim's location would be confidential and would not appear on law enforcement or court documents or records to which the defendant has access. Finally, the bill clarifies a provision in current law concerning defendants charged with sex offenses. Under section 2 of P.L.2007, c.133 (C.2C:14-12), when a defendant charged with a sex offense is released from custody before trial on bail or personal recognizance, the victim's location shall remain confidential and shall not appear on documents or records to which the defendant has access. Under the bill, this provision would apply both to law enforcement and to court documents and records. The bill also changes the phrase in this section "the victim's location shall remain confidential" to "the victim's location shall be confidential" to account for any possible inconsistency concerning the previous status of the confidentiality of the victim's location.

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Loretta Weinberg (D)*, 

Introduced in the Senate, Referred to Senate Judiciary Committee (on 02/13/2020)

Official Document