Bill ending mandatory minimums now covers all nonviolent crimes
TRENTON A new version of stalled legislation that would end mandatory minimum sentences now applies to all nonviolent offenses – including official misconduct, which had held up the previous version of the plan.
The state Criminal Sentencing and Disposition Commission had recommended lifting mandatory minimum sentences for many crimes, though not public corruption often charged as official misconduct. When that got added to the last bill, some balked – in part because bill sponsor Sen. Nicholas Sacco, D-Hudson, has a personal connection to someone facing that charge.
Gov. Phil Murphy opposed that amendment but has pushed for the broader bill, which in its latest incarnation is no longer sponsored by Sacco.
Credit: (Pool photo: Ed Murray/NJ Advance Media)
Gov. Phil Murphy, seen here delivering State of the State address, has balked at move to extend relief to those convicted of official misconduct.
The New Jersey Senate went back to square one Tuesday in an effort to eliminate mandatory minimum sentences for all nonviolent crimes, most importantly drug offenses, 15 months after a state commission recommended the change.
The Senate Judiciary Committee voted 7-0 and with little fanfare to advance S-3456, amid calls by activists for lawmakers to end mandatory minimum sentences. The New Jersey Criminal Sentencing and Disposition Commission in its November 2019 report indicated that such requirements that a person serve a minimum amount of time before parole eligibility are responsible for much of the disparity at the state’s prisons, where the incarceration rate for Blacks is 12 times higher than for whites.
Following the Garden State s path to ending mass incarceration
This new commentary authored by Jeremy Travis and Marc Mauer provides yet another reason to love the Garden State. The piece is headlined New Jersey shows that we can end mass incarceration, and here are excerpt:
New Jersey is on a path to release more than 3,000 people from prison as part of Gov. Phil Murphy’s attempts to fight the spread of the COVID-19 virus in the criminal justice system. While the pandemic has kept far too many of us feeling trapped at home, Murphy is responding to this crisis in a way that prioritizes freedom for thousands of Americans. In fact, since the beginning of the outbreak, New Jersey’s prison population has shrunk by 35%.
New Jersey shows that we can end mass incarceration | Opinion
Updated Dec 20, 2020;
By Jeremy Travis and Marc Mauer
New Jersey is on a path to release more than 3,000 people from prison as part of Gov. Phil Murphy’s attempts to fight the spread of the COVID-19 virus in the criminal justice system.
While the pandemic has kept far too many of us feeling trapped at home, Murphy is responding to this crisis in a way that prioritizes freedom for thousands of Americans. In fact, since the beginning of the outbreak, New Jersey’s prison population has shrunk by 35%.
But it shouldn’t take a deadly virus to know that too many Americans remain stuck in prisons, serving sentences that are unnecessarily long and being denied basic human dignities like privacy and safety.
Murphy commits to studying racial bias in N.J. policing, jury selection
Updated Dec 15, 2020;
Gov. Phil Murphy has committed to rooting out racism within New Jersey’s criminal justice system by expanding a key commission that has already helped pass statewide reforms.
Under Murphy’s proposal, unveiled Monday night, the Criminal Sentencing and Disposition Commission would also look for ways to improve policing, jury selection and access to defense lawyers.
“In order to more effectively address the undeniable presence of racial bias in our current criminal justice system, we must more fully understand the nature and extent of this problem,” Murphy said in a joint statement with two lawmakers and the leader of the commission.