A3841

An Act concerning stalking, amending P.L.1992, c.209 and supplementing Title 2C of the New Jersey Statutes.

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

1. Section 1 of P.L.1992, c.209 (C.2C:12-10) is amended to read as follows:

1. a. As used in this act:

(1) "Course of conduct" means repeatedly maintaining a visual or physical proximity to a person; directly, indirectly, or through third parties, by any action, method, device, or means, following, monitoring, observing, surveilling, threatening, or communicating to or about, a person, or interfering with a person's property; repeatedly committing harassment against a person; or repeatedly conveying, or causing to be conveyed, verbal or written threats or threats conveyed by any other means of communication or threats implied by conduct or a combination thereof directed at or toward a person.

(2) "Repeatedly" means on two or more occasions.

(3) "Emotional distress" means significant mental suffering or distress.

(4) "Cause a reasonable person to fear" means to cause fear which a reasonable victim, similarly situated, would have under the circumstances.

b. A person is guilty of stalking, a crime of the fourth degree, if he purposefully or knowingly engages in a course of conduct directed at a specific person that would cause a reasonable person to fear for his safety or the safety of a third person or suffer other emotional distress.

c. A person is guilty of a crime of the third degree if he commits the crime of stalking in violation of an existing court order prohibiting the behavior.

d. A person who commits a second or subsequent offense of stalking against the same victim is guilty of a crime of the third degree. In addition, the court may order electronic monitoring of the defendant pursuant to P.L. , c. (C. ) (pending before the Legislature as this bill).

e. A person is guilty of a crime of the third degree if he commits the crime of stalking while serving a term of imprisonment or while on parole or probation as the result of a conviction for any indictable offense under the laws of this State, any other state or the United States.

f. This act shall not apply to conduct which occurs during organized group picketing.

(cf: P.L.2009, c.28, s. 1).

2. (New section) a. The Director of the Administrative Office of the Courts, in consultation with the Attorney General, shall establish a program for the continuous, satellite-based monitoring of defendants convicted of a second or subsequent offense of stalking against the same victim pursuant to subsection d. of section 1 of P.L.1992, c.209 (C.2C:12-10). The system shall provide for the capability of active and passive monitoring, or a combination of both.

b. The monitoring system, at a minimum, shall provide:

(1) Time-correlated or continuous tracking of the geographic location of the monitored subject using a global positioning system based on satellite and other location technology; and

(2) An automated monitoring system that can be used to permit law enforcement agencies to compare the geographic positions of monitored subjects with reported crime incidents and whether the subject was in the proximity of such reported crime incidents.

c. The Administrative Office of the Courts shall develop procedures to determine, investigate, and report on a 24-hour-per-day basis a monitored subject’s noncompliance with the terms and conditions of the monitoring program. All reports of noncompliance shall be investigated immediately by a parole or law enforcement officer.

d. The director may promulgate guidelines to effectuate the provisions of P.L. , c. (C. ) (pending before the Legislature as this bill).

3. (New section) Notwithstanding any provision of law, rule or regulation to the contrary, the Director of the Administrative Office of the Courts, the Attorney General, the Superintendent of State Police and county and municipal law enforcement agencies shall share criminal incident information with each other and the vendor selected by the director to provide the monitoring equipment for the program. The director may direct the vendor to use data obtained pursuant to P.L. , c. (C. ) (pending before the Legislature as this bill) in preparing correlation reports for distribution and use by State, county and municipal law enforcement agencies.

4. (New section) A defendant ordered by the court to placed on electronic monitoring pursuant to P.L. , c. (C. ) (pending before the Legislature as this bill) shall be assessed the cost of the monitoring device.

5. (New section) Any person who tampers with, removes or vandalizes a device worn or utilized by a monitored subject pursuant to P.L. , c. (C. ) (pending before the Legislature as this bill) is guilty of a crime of the third degree.

6. This act shall take effect immediately and shall apply to persons convicted of a second or subsequent offense committed on or after the effective date.

STATEMENT

This bill authorizes the court to order electronic monitoring of a defendant convicted of a second or subsequent offense of stalking against the same victim pursuant to subsection d. of section 1 of P.L.1992, c.209 (C.2C:12-10).

Under the bill, the Administrative Office of the Courts in consultation with the Attorney General is directed to establish a program for the continuous, satellite-based monitoring of such defendants. The monitoring system would use global positioning system (GPS) technology.

The bill would also require the Director of the Administrative Office of the Courts, Attorney General, Superintendent of State Police and county and municipal law enforcement agencies to share criminal incident information with each other and the vendor selected by the director to provide the monitoring equipment for the program.

The bill would assess the cost of the monitoring device to the person being monitored. In addition, the bill makes it a crime of the third degree to tamper with, remove, or vandalize a monitoring device.