The New Jersey Criminal Sentencing and Disposition Commission, in a new report, recommended four reforms to make sentencing fairer and reduce racial disparities behind bars. (Andrew Burton | Getty Images)
A state commission is urging state lawmakers to pass stalled legislation that would reduce the prison population in New Jersey by ending mandatory minimum sentences for non-violent drug offenders and giving elderly, long-incarcerated people a path to release, among other things.
The New Jersey Criminal Sentencing and Disposition Commission sent a letter to Gov. Phil Murphy and legislative leaders Wednesday with four recommendations its 13 members unanimously agreed would ensure “a more rational, just, and proportionate sentencing system.”
They recommended:
- Permitting judges to reduce or waive fines and other fees assessed against defendants who can’t afford to pay them.
- Allowing judges to consider any abuse an offender endured at the hands of their victim as a mitigating factor when weighing an appropriate sentence, a change largely meant for domestic violence cases.
- Providing an opportunity for incarcerated people over 60 (or 62 in murder cases) who have served long sentences (30 years for murder, 20 years for other crimes) to apply to a judge for a reduced sentence, as long as they aren’t deemed a threat to society and show a readiness for reentry.
- Abolishing mandatory minimum sentences for people convicted of non-violent drug crimes.
Christopher Porrino, a former state attorney general who has chaired the commission since January, said the proposed changes would “untie judges’ hands” to give them greater discretion in sentencing.
“That’s what these proposals are really about — trying to be practical and to be fair and to address some of these historic racial disparities,” Porrino said.
New Jersey prisons have the worst racial disparities in the country, with a Black adult here 12 times more likely to be incarcerated than a white adult, even though just 15% of the state’s population is Black.
None of the proposed changes are new.
The commission recommended ending mandatory minimums for non-violent drug offenders in 2019. Gov. Phil Murphy in 2021 conditionally vetoed a bill that would have done so over an amendment a Democrat added to shield public corruption offenders. Legislators introduced another similar bill in June that has not advanced in either chamber.
Efforts to create “geriatric parole” — also something the sentencing commission has long lobbied for — have failed to get enough support in the Statehouse since at least 2019, with the latest bill stalled since it was first introduced in the Senate in January.
And a bill meant for domestic violence cases, which would allow judges to consider past abuse as a mitigating factor in sentencing defendants who survived abuse by their victims, has no Senate companion and has not moved since it was introduced in the Assembly in September. The commission also unsuccessfully pushed for this change in its annual report to lawmakers last year.
Reducing crippling fines and fees has long been a crusade of the court system, largely under its regularly updated “action plan for ensuring equal justice.”
The system has eliminated fees for juveniles and old, minor municipal cases, and last year, it vacated more than $7 million in unpaid probation supervision fees, citing concerns about racial disparities and the barriers the fees represent for rehabilitation and reentry. Court officials in September also announced they would reduce fines and penalties for people who successfully graduate from recovery court or otherwise participate in addiction treatment, educational, or vocational services programs.
Excessive fees and the debts they cause threaten successful reentry, Porrino wrote in his letter to lawmakers. The courts collect just a fraction of the fines and fees judges impose, spending almost as much to collect them as it takes in, he added.
Pete McAleer, a spokesman for the Judiciary, applauded the commission’s scrutiny of fines and fees.
“Discretionary fines disproportionately impact people of color and those experiencing poverty, which only serves to prolong their interaction with the justice system,” McAleer said.
Yet New Jersey legislators have been loath to adopt the proposed changes. Instead, they have leaned into a recent national “tough-on-crime” trend and introduced bills critics have warned could roll back prison-reform progress.
Still, Porrino said he remains optimistic they will act on the recommendations the commission made this week, saying they were about “being smart and practical,” not soft on crime.
“None of these proposed reforms are a get-out-of-jail-free card. What they do is put into the hands of the judges, who the Legislature confirmed and who the governor nominated, discretion to decide how cases should proceed and whether someone should be incarcerated or continue to be incarcerated,” he said. “Anyone who is approaching this with an open mind and not just playing politics couldn’t disagree with these four suggested reforms.”
It also “makes economic sense” not to incarcerate someone who doesn’t need to be incarcerated, he added. It costs $74,750 a year, on average, to incarcerate someone in New Jersey, according to state budget documents.
Maggie Garbarino, a Murphy spokeswoman, said the commission’s work aligns with the governor’s goal of creating a stronger, fairer, and more just state.
“Governor Murphy remains supportive of the Criminal Sentencing and Disposition Commission’s important mission to ensure our criminal justice system and sentencing laws are fair and equitable by building consensus for reforms,” Garbarino said. “The Governor welcomes the recommendations within the Commission’s most recent report and looks forward to working with the Legislature on these issues.”
GET THE MORNING HEADLINES.