New Jersey Sex Crime Statute
Research the state of new jersey government website to locate information on a recently adopted sex crime statute in the state of new jersey please provide a brief summary of the statute, including the intended category of sexual offense. 2. Explain how the statute could impact laws or enforcement in the area. Provide a brief history of other statutes that may have led to the creation of the current statute. 3. Describe the range of punishments for violation of the law. 4. Explain whether the acts identified in the statute are acts that previously were considered accepted practice. 5. Explain what made this statute a current precedent and if it was derived from a previous law
2020 New Jersey Revised Statutes: Title 2C – The New Jersey Code of Criminal Justice
Section 2C:14-2
At the end of the second year of New Jersey’s 2018 Legislative Session, specifically in January 2020, the state legislature passed and signed into law the L.2019, c.474, which changed the law in regards to sexual assault. The changes encompassed the removal of the outdated ‘physical force’ requirement from the sexual assault crimes and incorporated the language articulated by the state supreme court in State in the Interest of M.T.S. and in State v. Priestman. The law asserted that the element of physical force is satisfied when the defendant engaged in any sexual penetration act without any affirmative and freely-given permission from the victim to this particular act (Justia, 2022). The state jurors were also instructed that physical force is an act of sexual penetration that happens without free and affirmative permission from the victim. The law also incorporated the standard in which an individual will be considered to have a mental disease or defect is that cannot understand or exercise their right to refuse to engage in sexual conduct. The law was also updated o make it gender-neutral. Violation of this statute will have the punishment depending on the nature of the crime and the age of the victim. Generally, sexual assault is a 2nd-degree crime and carries a maximum ten-year prison sentence. Aggravated sexual assault is a 1st-degree crime and carries up to 20 years in prison.
The effect of these statute changes includes the courts not being required to interpret physical force as an extrinsic element from penetration which also needed the resistance requirement. Against a backdrop of numerous years encompassing law reforms on rape, the supreme court in New Jersey had decided in State ex rel. M.T.S that penetration without the affirmative and freely-given permission of the victim did constitute the sexual assault offence (Justiua, 2022). Therefore, physical force in excess of that inherent within the sexual penetration act is not required. At the time, the sexual penetration act and the use of physical force or coercion are separate and distinct elements of the offence. The present changes to the statute come from the New Jersey Law Revision Commission recommendations report that focus on revising the provisions of Title 2C that pertain to sexual offences, N.J.S. § 2C:14-1 – 2C:14-12 in response to case law (NJLRC, 2020).
References
Justia. (2022). 2014 New Jersey revised statutes :: Title 2c – The New Jersey code of criminal justice :: Section 2c:14-2 – Sexual assault. Retrieved from https://law.justia.com/codes/new-jersey/2014/title-2c/section-2c-14-2
Justia. (2022). State in interest of MTS. Retrieved from https://law.justia.com/cases/new-jersey/supreme-court/1992/129-n-j-422-1.html
New Jersey Law Revision Commission (NJLRC). (2020, May 8). Title 2C – Sexual offenses — New Jersey law revision commission. Retrieved from https://www.njlrc.org/projects/2020/2/5/title-2c-sexual-offenses?rq=title%202c%20-%20sexual%20
