SENATE, No. 4351

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

221st LEGISLATURE

 

INTRODUCED MAY 12, 2025

 

 

Sponsored by:

Senator  BENJIE E. WIMBERLY

District 35 (Bergen and Passaic)

 

 

 

 

SYNOPSIS

     Prohibits sentencing individual under 21 years of age to life imprisonment.

 

CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT

     As introduced.

  

An Act concerning life imprisonment and amending P.L.1995, c.126.

 

     Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:

 

     1.    Section 2 of P.L.1995, c.126 (C.2C:43-7.1) is amended to read as follows:

     2.    a. (1)  Life Imprisonment Without Parole.  A person convicted of a crime under any of the following: N.J.S.2C:11-3; subsection a. of N.J.S.2C:11-4; a crime of the first degree under N.J.S.2C:13-1, paragraphs (3) through (6) of subsection a. of N.J.S.2C:14-2; N.J.S.2C:15-1; or section 1 of P.L.1993, c.221 (C.2C:15-2), who has been convicted of two or more crimes that were committed on prior and separate occasions, regardless of the dates of the convictions, under any of the foregoing sections or under any similar statute of the United States, this State, or any other state for a crime that is substantially equivalent to a crime under any of the foregoing sections, shall be sentenced to a term of life imprisonment by the court, with no eligibility for parole.

     (2)  Life Imprisonment for Young Offenders.  Notwithstanding any law to the contrary, the court shall not impose a sentence of life imprisonment with no eligibility for parole pursuant to paragraph (1) of this subsection upon any person who was under 21 years of age at the time of the crime.

     b.    Extended Term for Repeat Violent Offenders.  A person shall be sentenced to an extended term of imprisonment pursuant to N.J.S.2C:43-7 if: 

     (1)   The person is convicted of any of the following crimes:  a crime of the second degree under N.J.S.2C:11-4; a crime of the second or third degree under subsection b. of N.J.S.2C:12-1; a crime of the second degree under N.J.S.2C:13-1; a crime under N.J.S.2C:14-3 for aggravated criminal sexual contact under any of the circumstances set forth in paragraphs (3) through (6) of subsection a. of N.J.S.2C:14-2; a crime of the second degree under N.J.S.2C:15-1; a crime of the second degree under N.J.S.2C:18-2; or a crime of the second degree under N.J.S.2C:39-4 for possession of a weapon with the purpose of using it unlawfully against the person of another, and the person has been convicted of any of the foregoing crimes or any of the crimes enumerated in subsection a. of this section or under any similar statute of the United States, this State, or any other state for a crime that is substantially equivalent to a crime enumerated in this subsection or in subsection a. of this section committed on two or more prior and separate occasions regardless of the dates of the convictions; or 

     (2)   The person is convicted of a crime enumerated in subsection a. of this section, does not have two or more prior convictions that require sentencing under subsection a. and has two or more prior convictions that would require sentencing under paragraph (1) of this subsection if the person had been convicted of a crime enumerated in paragraph (1). 

     c.     The provisions of this section shall not apply unless the prior convictions are for crimes committed on separate occasions and unless the crime for which the defendant is being sentenced was committed either within 10 years of the date of the defendant's last release from confinement for commission of any crime or within 10 years of the date of the commission of the most recent of the crimes for which the defendant has a prior conviction.

     d.    The court shall not impose a sentence of imprisonment pursuant to this section, unless the ground therefor has been established at a hearing after the conviction of the defendant and on written notice to the defendant of the ground proposed.  The defendant shall have the right to hear and controvert the evidence against him and to offer evidence upon the issue. Prior convictions shall be defined and proven in accordance with N.J.S.2C:44-4. 

     e.     For purposes of this section, a term of life shall mean the natural life of a person sentenced pursuant to this section.  Except that a defendant who is at least 70 years of age and who has served at least 35 years in prison pursuant to a sentence imposed under this section shall be released on parole if the full Parole Board determines that the defendant is not a danger to the safety of any other person or the community. 

(cf: P.L.2003, c.48, s.1)

 

     2.  This act shall take effect immediately.

 

 

STATEMENT

 

     This bill prohibits a court from imposing a sentence of life imprisonment with no eligibility for parole upon a person who committed a crime while under 21 years of age.

     Under current law, the court may sentence a person under 21 years of age to life imprisonment.  Under the bill, a court would be prohibited from doing so.

     This bill is in response to the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court holding that sentencing individuals from 18 to 20 to serve a life term without the possibility of parole violates the prohibition against cruel or unusual punishment and the portion of the relevant Massachusetts statute which denies parole eligibility to those from 18 to 20 years old is unconstitutional.  See Commonwealth v. Mattis, 224 N.E.3d 410 (Mass. 2024).