Sponsored by:
Assemblyman ALEX SAUICKIE
District 12 (Burlington, Middlesex, Monmouth and Ocean)
SYNOPSIS
Requires immediate public reporting of bias incident; facilitates receipt of information from public for purposes of prosecuting bias incident.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As introduced.
An Act concerning bias intimidation crimes and supplementing P.L.2007, c.303.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. a. Within 24 hours of being notified of a bias incident, the Attorney General shall make available to the public on the Internet website of the Department of Law and Public Safety, and shall direct the prosecutor of the county in which the incident occurred to make available to the public on the county prosecutor’s Internet website, information regarding:
(1) the suspected bias incident including, but not limited to, relevant facts and circumstances related to the incident in order to obtain assistance from the public to investigate and prosecute the incident; and
(2) how the public may contact the Attorney General’s Office, the county prosecutor’s office, or the local law enforcement agency to provide information related to the incident.
b. Within 24 hours of being notified of a bias incident, the chief law enforcement officer of the municipality in which the bias incident occurred, or the Superintendent of State Police if the incident occurred in a municipality that does not have a full-time police department, shall make information available to the public on the Internet website of the municipality and the local law enforcement agency or New Jersey State Police, as appropriate, regarding:
(1) the suspected bias incident including, but not limited to, relevant facts and circumstances related to the incident in order to obtain assistance from the public to investigate and prosecute the incident; and
(2) how the public may contact the Attorney General’s Office, county prosecutor’s office, or local law enforcement agency to provide information related to the incident.
c. The Attorney General, county prosecutor, and chief law enforcement officer or Superintendent of State Police, as appropriate, shall provide updated information on the appropriate Internet website regarding the final disposition of the bias incident investigation.
As used in this section, “bias incident” means a suspected or confirmed violation of paragraph (1) or (2) of subsection a. of N.J.S.2C:16-1.
2. This act shall take effect immediately.
STATEMENT
This bill requires the immediate
public reporting of any bias
incident in this State and facilitates the receipt of information from the public
for the purposes of investigating and prosecuting a bias incident.
Bias incidents have increased throughout the State and the nation, causing fear, tension, and uncertainty in our communities. New Jersey experienced a 29 percent increase in bias incidents between 2020 and 2021. According to data released by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), anti-Semitic incidents in 2021 rose by 25 percent in New Jersey reaching 370 total incidents, which is the highest number ever recorded by the ADL in the State and the second-highest number recorded in any state in the country. According to State data regarding bias intimidation crimes, anti-Black bias remained the number-one motivating factor in reported incidents in both 2020 and 2021, with anti-Semitic bias being the second-largest contributor. New Jersey’s LGBTQ+ community experienced a significant increase in bias incidents over that same period, and anti-Asian incidents rose sharply from 69 in 2020 to 129 in 2021.
Two bias incidents were recently reported in the State against the Jewish community in April 2022. A man was accused of attacking several members of the Orthodox Jewish community in both Lakewood and Jackson, and is now facing federal hate crime charges. In addition, an historically Jewish fraternity at Rutgers University was the target of multiple cases of anti-Semitic harassment, prompting an increase in campus security.
Under current law, municipal and county law enforcement agencies are required to submit quarterly reports to the Attorney General, which include information regarding crimes committed within their respective jurisdictions. These reports are required to include information relating to a bias incident, which is defined under current law to mean any suspected or confirmed offense directed against a person or group or their property, by reason of their race, color, religion, gender, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, national origin, or ethnicity. The Attorney General is required to issue an annual report containing the results of the information reflected in these quarterly reports.
Under the bill, information is
required to be made public within 24 hours of the bias incident. Specifically,
the bill requires the Attorney General to make available to the public on the
Department of Law and Public Safety website, and to direct the prosecutor of
the county in which the incident occurred to make available on the county
prosecutor’s website, information regarding: the suspected bias incident,
including relevant facts and circumstances related to the incident in order to
obtain assistance from the public to investigate and prosecute the incident;
and how the public may contact the Attorney General’s Office, the county
prosecutor’s office, or the local law enforcement agency to provide information
related to the incident.
The bill also requires the chief law enforcement officer of the municipality in which the bias incident occurred, or the Superintendent of State Police if the incident occurred in a municipality that does not have a full-time police department, to make this information available to the public within 24 hours of being notified of the bias incident.
In addition, the bill requires the Attorney General, county prosecutor, and chief law enforcement officer or Superintendent of State Police, as appropriate, to provide updated information regarding the final disposition of the bias incident investigation.