Bill > A2523

Introduced Session

This bill requires the Pretrial Services Program to recommend pretrial detention of certain repeat offenders charged with a violent crime. Under P.L.2014, c.31, also known as the Criminal Justice Reform Law, criminal courts are authorized to order the pretrial release of a defendant pending further proceedings, or order pretrial detention of a defendant. Pretrial detention may be ordered if a defendant is found to be a flight risk, a danger to another person or the community, or likely to obstruct further criminal proceedings. Pretrial detention determinations are based on a risk assessment conducted by the Pretrial Services Program, which assesses each eligible defendant detained on a complaint-warrant and makes recommendations to the court as to an appropriate pretrial release decision. This bill requires the Pretrial Services Program to recommend "no release" if:· the defendant has previously been arrested on one or more prior and separate occasions; and · one, or more, of the charges that are the subject of a prior arrest is pending at the time of issuance of the current complaint-warrant; and· the current charge, or at least one of the pending prior charges, is for any crime of the first or second degree enumerated under the No Early Release Act, N.J.S.2C:43-7.2, or any crime for which the eligible defendant would be subject to an ordinary or extended term of life imprisonment. The bill provides that when a prosecutor files a motion for pretrial detention, the no release recommendation made by the Pretrial Services Program may serve as prima facie evidence to overcome the presumption of release. The purpose of this bill is to increase the likelihood that repeat offenders who commit violent crimes will be detained pending trial. As such, the bill provides that there is a presumption against pretrial release if the defendant is a repeat offender who has committed:· a crime of the first or second degree enumerated in the No Early Release Act, for which a defendant, if convicted, is required to serve 85 percent of their sentence prior to being eligible for parole; or· a crime for which the defendant, if convicted, would be subject to an ordinary or extended term of life imprisonment.

AI Summary

Committee Categories

Bill Spearman (D)*, 

Introduced, Referred to Assembly Public Safety and Preparedness Committee (on 01/13/2026)

Official Document