Bill > A5624

Introduced Session

This bill amends the "Crime Victim's Bill of Rights" to include the right of a victim of a crime to be notified of the recommended release of a defendant from incarceration. Current statutory law gives the victim of a crime the right to be notified only of the defendant's actual release. The bill further bestows on these victims the right to provide oral, written, or recorded video testimony at any proceeding that may result in the release, or recommended release, of the defendant. Under the bill, "release" includes, but is not limited to, any furlough for work or temporary medical release of a defendant from a correctional facility. The bill also incorporates into the "Crime Victim's Bill of Rights" the right of certain injured victims to provide a statement concerning the impact of and harm caused by a defendant convicted of first or second degree crime to the State Parole Board to be included in the defendant's parole report that is considered at the parole hearing or to testify before the board at the parole hearing. This right currently is incorporated in the "Parole Act of 1979," but also would be specifically enumerated in the Crime Victim's Bill of Rights under the bill. According to the sponsor, this bill primarily is in response to Governor Murphy's Executive Order No.124 of 2020, which establishes a program to release certain inmates from incarceration during the COVID-19 public health emergency. The order establishes a process for the Department of Corrections (DOC) to grant work release or emergency medical temporary home confinement to inmates at risk of contracting COVID-19 pursuant to the DOC's statutory furlough authority. The order creates the Emergency Medical Review Committee to make recommendations concerning which inmates should be placed on the list to be considered for release. This bill would require notification to victims of crime of the review committee's recommended release of an inmate on furlough pursuant to E.O.124. This requirement also would apply to a recommended release of an inmate by any subsequently created non-judicial body empowered to make similar recommendations. The bill also gives victims of crime the right to provide oral, written, or recorded video testimony at any proceeding held by the review committee.

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Ronald Dancer (R)*, 

Introduced, Referred to Assembly Judiciary Committee (on 05/12/2021)