Bill > S879

Introduced Session

This bill expands the definition of victim of domestic violence to include new categories of victims and clarifies one of the relationships of the victim to the abuser. Under current law, a victim of domestic violence is defined to include: (1) any person who 18 years of age or older or who is an emancipated minor and who has been subjected to domestic violence by a spouse, former spouse, or any other person who is a present household member or was at any time a household member; (2) any person who has been subjected to domestic violence by a person with whom the victim has a child in common or with whom the victim anticipates having a child in common if one of the parties is pregnant; (3) and any person who has been subjected to domestic violence by a person with whom the victim has had a dating relationship. The bill amends current law to expand the categories of victims to include any person who is 16 of age or older, instead of 18 years of age or older, who meets the aforementioned criteria and any person who is the parent of an adopted child who has been subjected to domestic violence by the person whose parental rights towards the adopted child has been terminated. The bill also clarifies the relationships of certain victims to their abuser to include any person with whom the victim resides or has resided, at any time in the past. The amendments to current law included in this bill incorporate recommendations made by the New Jersey Law Revision Commission, as a part of its February 8, 2021 Draft Tentative Report Relating to the Term "Household Members" as used in the "Prevention of Domestic Violence Act of 1991." It is the sponsor's intent that this expansion of the statute will protect additional victims of domestic violence, otherwise not protected by law, including residents of group homes or other communal living arrangements and adoptive parents in the legal classifications identified in the bill.

Committee Categories

Tony Bucco (R)*, 

Introduced in the Senate, Referred to Senate Judiciary Committee (on 01/09/2024)

Official Document