CALENDAR:      The next meeting will take place on Wednesday, April 19, 2006, at 10:00 a.m. in the first floor conference room of 44 South Clinton Avenue (3 Station Plaza), Trenton. The meeting is open.

March 23, 2006
NorthJersey.com
Zones Failing In Drug Fight

March 23, 2006
The Star Ledger
Drug-Free Zones Cited For Racial Bias

March 21, 2006
The Star Ledger
High Court Won’t Alter Marshall’s Prison Term: Justices Decline To Hear Appeal On Death Penalty

March 19, 2006
The Star Ledger
The Other Offenders In Jersey Prisons: State Gives Up Details of Abuses by Guards

March 18, 2006
Asbury Park Press
DNA Criminal Database OK’d On Appeal

March 16, 2006
Associated Press
AP Interview: AG: Death Penalty Not Necessary, Not Working

March 10, 2006
Gannett
Changes to Megan’s Law Considered

March 7, 2006
The Star Ledger
A Permanent Sentencing Panel Is Key to Reform

March 6, 2006
Gannett
Offender Laws Vary Widely

March 6, 2006
Gannett
Studies May Settle Dispute Over Effectiveness of Megan’s Law

March 6, 2006
Courier-Post
Critics Say Broad Limits Miss the Point

March 5, 2006
Courier-Post
Camden Law Doesn’t Cover All Offenders

March 23, 2006
Associated Press
Drug-Free School Zone Laws Questioned

March 23, 2006
Washington Post
Drug-Free Zones Off-Target, Group Says

March 23, 2006
USA Today
Study Fuels Debate Over Whether Drug-Free Zones Are Fair, Effective

March 16, 2006
Associated Press
General Assembly May Reduce Drug Offenders’ Prison Sentences

March 12, 2006
San Francisco Chronicle
Prison Reform Needs Reform Corrections System Can’t Do Task Alone

March 4, 2006
Forbes
Congressman To Seek New Sentencing Rules

March 3, 2006
Los Angeles Times
Bratton, Baca Support Attempts to Reform Three Strikes Law: The Law Enforcement Officials Back Efforts to Restrict Harsh Sentences To Those Whose Third Offense Is A Serious Or Violent Crime

March 2, 2006
Knight Ridder
Top S.C. Judge Calls For Solutions To Prison Overcrowding

Senate Bill No. 1737: Introduced on 3/21/2006. Summary: Makes it a disorderly persons offense to disrupt a funeral by picketing or conducting other protest activities within 300 feet.

Senate Bill No. 1756: Introduced on 3/21/2006. Summary: Upgrades to a crime of the second degree recruiting a minor to be in a criminal street gang.

Senate Bill No. 1738: Introduced on 3/21/2006. Summary: Establishes rehabilitation as a condition for parole of certain inmates.

Senate Bill No. 1740: Introduced on 3/21/2006. Summary: Upgrades simple assault against a private school teacher to aggravated assault; adds definition of “school” to criminal code.

Senate Bill No. 1648: Introduced on 3/20/2006. Summary: Bars sex offenders from jobs which primarily consist of contact with children.

Senate Bill No. 1687: Introduced on 3/20/2006. Summary: Clarifies offenders are not eligible for parole under “Michael’s Law.”

Senate Bill No. 1634: Introduced on 3/13/2006. Summary: Upgrades crime of stalking when victim is less than 18 years old.

Assembly Bill No. 2901: Introduced on 3/21/2006. Summary: Upgrades the crime of employing a juvenile in a drug distribution scheme; imposes a mandatory minimum term of 10 years.

Assembly Bill No. 2898: Introduced on 3/21/2006. Summary: Makes it a disorderly persons offense to disrupt a funeral by picketing or conducting other protest activities within 300 feet.

Assembly Bill No. 2877: Introduced on 3/21/2006. Summary: Reduces drug free school and public property zones to 200 feet.

Assembly Bill No. 2804: Introduced on 3/21/2006. Summary: Upgrades theft of certain firearms; establishes transporting of firearms under certain circumstances as a crime of the second degree.

Assembly Bill No. 2909: Introduced on 3/21/2006. Summary: Increases mandatory minimum term of imprisonment for certain repeat sex offenders.

Assembly Bill No. 2868: Introduced on 3/16/2006. Summary: Provides for extended term of imprisonment, supervision for life and sex offender registration for the crime of human trafficking under certain circumstances.

Assembly Bill No. 2841: Introduced on 3/13/2006. Summary: Upgrades penalty for unlawfully transferring a firearm to an underage person.

Assembly Bill No. 2840: Introduced on 3/13/2006. Summary: Makes unlawful possession of assault firearm a second degree crime.

Assembly Bill No. 2841: Introduced on 3/13/2006. Summary: Upgrades penalty for unlawfully transferring a firearm to an underage person.

Drug Policy

Disparity By Design: How Drug-Free Zone Laws Impact Racial Disparity - And Fail To Protect Youth
Justice Policy Institute

General Sentencing Policy

Final Report On The Impact Of United States v. Booker On Federal Sentencing
United States Sentencing Commission

Principles For the Design And Reform Of Sentencing Systems: A Background Report
The Constitutional Project – Sentencing Initiative

New Jersey

State In The Interest of M.C., __ N.J. Super. __ (App. Div. 2006)
Docket No. A-7024-03T5
Held: In this appeal, the Appellate Division concluded that although the Code of Juvenile Justice does not explicitly authorize the imposition of suspended sentences, such dispositions are permissible given the Code’s fundamental rehabilitative and penal objectives.

A.A. v. Attorney General of New Jersey, et al., __ N.J. Super. __ (App. Div. 2006)
Docket No. 2320-04T3
Held: In this appeal, the Appellate Division reversed the trial court and upheld from constitutional challenge the DNA Database and Databank Act, N.J.S.A. 53:1-20.17 to 20.28. Plaintiffs became subject to the Act when it was amended, effective September 22, 2003, to apply to any person serving a sentence of supervision as a consequence of conviction or adjudication of delinquency based on conduct classified as a crime. The trial judge held that the Act would deprive offenders of due process and permit unreasonable searches unless modified to include a right of expungement upon completion of sentence.

State v. Shannon K. Luthe, __ N.J. Super. __ (App. Div. 2006)
Docket No. A-3695-04T2
Held: In this appeal, the Appellate Division concluded that Michael’s Law, N.J.S.A. 39:4-50(a)(3), does not authorize non-custodial alternatives to the mandatory 180 days confinement, whether that confinement be served entirely in jail or partially in an inpatient facility. There is no statutory authority for work release programs, out-patient treatment, and the like as an alternative.

State v. Jose Rodriguez, __ N.J. Super. __ (App. Div. 2006)
Docket No. A-5914-01T3
Held: In this appeal, the Appellate Division concluded that future disqualification from public employment mandated by N.J.S.A. 2C:51-2d, was appropriately imposed on an off-duty police officer who was convicted of third-degree leaving the scene of a fatal accident. The offense, which required proof beyond a reasonable doubt that defendant knew that there had been an accident and that he knowingly left the scene, involved or touched upon his public office within the meaning of the statute.