NCJ Number
82380
Date Published
1981
Length
203 pages
Annotation
Findings are presented from an evaluation of the impact of law changes in the New Jersey Code of Criminal Justice, as well as the code implementation.
Abstract
Through legal codification, the New Jersey Code of Criminal Justice seeks to clarify offense definitions, severity of intent, and acceptable actions under the law. A format for sentencing equity is also provided, and certain crime areas are either expanded or narrowed according to perceived public mood. Interviews of key State criminal justice personnel and legal scholars indicated that the greatest substantive law changes occurred in the definitions of sex offenses, homicide, theft, gambling, and white-collar and inchoate offenses. While the data do not show the major changes in arrests, prosecutions, and convictions some had anticipated, there has been a slight decrease in sex offense arrests compared to prior code arrest rates. More notably, there was a decrease in arrests for gambling and a decrease in dismissals in theft under the new code. There has been no significant increase in overall court processing time under the new code. Presumptive sentencing midpoints prescribed under the code have not been consistently imposed; however the majority of sentences were within prescribed sentence ranges. There has been an increase in county jail populations since the code enactment. Jail superintendents believe these increases stem from changes in sentencing and bail practices. Code implementation appeared satisfactory as measured by the number trained, preparation and distribution of training materials, satisfaction with training materials, extent and type of training, and satisfaction with training. Tabular data and five references are provided. (Author summary modified)