Sponsored by:
Assemblyman WILLIAM W. SPEARMAN
District 5 (Camden and Gloucester)
SYNOPSIS
Establishes as criminal coercion threatening to initiate a removal action based on immigration status.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As introduced.
An Act concerning criminal coercion and amending N.J.S.2C:13-5.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. N.J.S.2C:13-5 is amended to read as follows:
2C:13-5. a. Offense defined. A person is guilty of criminal coercion if, with purpose unlawfully to restrict another’s freedom of action to engage or refrain from engaging in conduct, he threatens to:
(1) Inflict bodily injury on anyone or commit any other offense, regardless of the immediacy of the threat;
(2) Accuse anyone of an offense;
(3) Expose any secret which would tend to subject any person to hatred, contempt or ridicule, or to impair his credit or business repute;
(4) Take or withhold action as an official, or cause an official to take or withhold action including, but not limited to, initiation of a deportation or removal action based on a person’s immigration status.
(5) Bring about or continue a strike, boycott or other collective action, except that such a threat shall not be deemed coercive when the restriction compelled is demanded in the course of negotiation for the benefit of the group in whose interest the actor acts;
(6) Testify or provide information or withhold testimony or information with respect to another’s legal claim or defense; or
(7) Perform any other act which would not in itself substantially benefit the actor but which is calculated to substantially harm another person with respect to his health, safety, business, calling, career, financial condition, reputation or personal relationships.
It is an affirmative defense to prosecution based on paragraphs (2), (3), (4), (6) and (7) that the actor believed the accusation or secret to be true or the proposed official action justified and that his purpose was limited to compelling the other to behave in a way reasonably related to the circumstances which were the subject of the accusation, exposure or proposed official action, as by desisting from further misbehavior, making good a wrong done, or refraining from taking any action or responsibility for which the actor believes the other disqualified.
b. Grading. Criminal coercion is a crime of the fourth degree unless the threat is to commit a crime more serious than one of the fourth degree or the actor’s purpose is criminal, in which cases the offense is a crime of the third degree.
c. For purposes of this section, “official” means a person appointed or elected to a public office.
(cf: P.L.2015, c.98, s.3)
2. This act shall take effect immediately.
STATEMENT
This bill establishes as criminal coercion the use of threats by an official to initiate a deportation or removal action based on a person’s immigration status.
Currently under the law, a person is guilty of the crime of criminal coercion if, with purpose unlawfully to restrict another’s freedom of action to engage or refrain from engaging in conduct, the person threatens, as an official or to cause an official to take or withhold action. Criminal coercion generally is a crime of the fourth degree. Fourth degree crimes are punishable by imprisonment of up to 18 months, a fine of $10,000, or both.
The sponsor’s intent is to make it clear that criminal coercion expressly includes threats by an official or threats to cause an official to initiate a deportation or removal action based on immigration status.