RACIAL AND ETHNIC COMMUNITY CRIMINAL JUSTICE AND PUBLIC SAFETY IMPACT STATEMENT

ASSEMBLY, No. 3561

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

SUMMARY

Synopsis:

Establishes crime of doxxing.

INTRODUCTION

The Office of Legislative Services does not develop or maintain source data concerning the criminal justice system in the State. The Office of Legislative Services makes reasonable efforts to obtain data from Executive Branch Departments and the Judiciary. This statement may reflect information provided by the United States Census Bureau, the Administrative Office of the Courts within the Judiciary, the New Jersey Department of Corrections, the New Jersey Office of the Attorney General, and the Juvenile Justice Commission in the New Jersey Department of Law and Public Safety. The publicly available data and the data provided by the responding departments and agencies contained within this statement allows for a general overview of the frequencies of events of interest (i.e. arrests, charges, and convictions) for racial and ethnic minorities for the crimes identified herein. This statement does not provide for an in-depth analysis of that data.

Additional data concerning recidivism rates and incarceration rates for the specific crimes addressed within this statement sorted by race and ethnicity is needed in order to make a conclusion on the impacts on racial and ethnic minorities. Additional data concerning the deterrent effects of similar laws of this type is needed to determine the impact on community criminal justice and public safety. It should be noted that the data needed may not currently be collected by the responding departments or agencies or may not exist.[1]

BILL DESCRIPTION

Assembly Bill No.3561 establishes the crime of doxxing.

Under the bill, doxxing occurs if a person, with the purpose to subject another person or a close relation of that person to unlawful force, violence, stalking, physical restraint, mental anguish, or to cause a person to reasonably fear for their own safety or that of another, knowingly discloses personal identifying information without the person’s consent via an electronic device or through a social networking site. A crime is committed under the bill when the disclosure:

(1) creates a substantial risk of serious bodily injury or physical harm to the person or a close relation of the person;

(2) creates a substantial risk that the person or a close relation of the person is subjected to stalking; or

(3) inflicts mental anguish upon the person or a close relation of the person and places the person or close relation in reasonable fear of physical harm.

Under the bill, “close relation” is defined as a spouse; domestic partner; partner in a civil union couple; former spouse, former domestic partner; former partner in a civil union; parent, stepparent, grandparent, sibling, stepsibling, child, stepchild, or grandchild, whether related by blood or by law; any person who is a present household member, or who was, within the prior six months, a household member; or any person with a significant personal or professional relationship. The crime of doxxing does not occur if the disclosure was made:

(1) in good faith to inform any member of the public of conduct by the person that the actor reasonably believed to be unlawful;

(2) in good faith to inform law enforcement of conduct committed by the person that the actor reasonably believed to constitute a crime; or

(3) while cooperating in an official investigation or prosecution of the crime of cyber-harassment, N.J.S.A.2C:33-4.1.

The bill also establishes a rebuttable presumption that the actor did not act with the purpose established under the bill if the personal identifying information of another person was disclosed for the primary purpose of:

(a) publishing, disseminating, or reporting in good faith conduct by an elected public official or law enforcement officer acting in their official capacity that the actor reasonably believes to be unlawful or an abuse of authority; or

(b) engaging in lawful and constitutionally protected activity as it pertains to speech, assembly, press, or petition.

Doxxing is a crime of the fourth degree unless the disclosure results in any serious bodily injury, physical harm, or stalking, then it is a crime of the third degree. A crime of the fourth degree is punishable by up to 18 months imprisonment, a fine of up to $10,000, or both. A crime of the third degree is punishable by three to five years imprisonment, a fine of up to $15,000, or both.

Federal and State Census Information[2]

	Population	Caucasian	African American	Native American/Alaska Native	Asian	Native Hawaiian/ Other Pacific Islander	Hispanic	Two or More Races/Other
National Census Estimate	331,450,000	59.3%	13.6%	1.3%	6.1%	0.3%	18.9%	2.9%
State Census Estimate	9,289,000	53.5%	15.3%	0.7%	10.3%	0.1%	21.5%	2.4%

Federal and State Inmate Population Data

	Population	Caucasian	African American	Native American/Alaska Native	Asian	Native Hawaiian/ Other Pacific Islander	Hispanic	Two or More Races/Other
Actual Federal Adult Inmate Population[3]	156,241	56.9%	38.8%	2.8%	1.5%	N/A	29.2%	N/A
Actual State Adult Inmate Population[4]	12,978	22%	60.8%	0.0%	1%	N/A	17%	N/A

State Census and State Inmate Population Data

	Population	Caucasian	African American	Native American/Alaska Native	Asian	Native Hawaiian/ Other Pacific Islander	Hispanic	Two or More Races/Other
State Census Estimate	9,289,000	53.5%	15.3%	0.7%	10.3%	0.1%	21.5%	2.4%
Actual State Adult Inmate Population[5]	12,978	22%	60.8%	0.0%	1%	N/A	17%	N/A

DATA PROVIDED BY THE EXECUTIVE BRANCH

The following data was provided, as a part of the submission, from the Office of the Attorney General:

The below displays the number of arrest events with any paragraph of the enumerated charges below displayed by race/ethnicity for all arrests between January 1, 2017 to December 31, 2024.

Statute	Statute Description	Degree	White (incl. Hispanic origin)	Black	Asian/ Pac. Islander	Am. Indian/ Alaska Native	Unknown/ Not Provided
2C:33-3A(1)(A)	False Report of Impending Disaster	3rd	64	27	5		3
2C:33-3A(1)(B)	False Report Involving Bomb/Hostage/Deadly Weapon	2nd	25	20	2		1
2C:33-3A(1)(C)	False Reporting Involving Critical Infrastructure	2nd	1	2
2C:33-3A(2)	False Report Involving Emergency Personnel	3rd	16	8	1		2
2C:33-3B	False Public Alarm – Bomb Threat	2nd	15	2
2C:33-3C	False Public Alarm – Serious Bodily Injury or Death	2nd	1
2C:33-3E	Calling 911 without need for 911 service	4th	72	32	2	1	5
2C:33-3F	Call 911 for purposes of Bias Intimidation	3rd	1
2C:33-4A	Harassment – Causing Alarm	PDP	3,129	7,973	88	12	208
2C:33-4B	Harassment – Striking/Offensive Touching/Threats	PDP	1,062	737	48	5	84
2C:33-4C	Harassment – Any other alarming conduct	PDP	910	552	37	7	57
2C:33-4E	Harassment while imprisoned/paroled/probationer	4th	80	79	1	1

The below displays the number of Unique Persons Convicted of any of the enumerated charges below displayed by race/ethnicity for all arrests between January 1, 2017 to December 31, 2024.

Statute	Statute Description	Degree	White (incl. Hispanic origin)	Black	Asian/ Pac. Islander	Am. Indian/ Alaska Native	Unknown/ Not Provided
2C:33-3A(1)(A)	False Report of Impending Disaster	3rd	8	3
2C:33-3A(1)(B)	False Report Involving Bomb/Hostage/Deadly Weapon	2nd	1
2C:33-3E	Calling 911 without need for 911 service	4th	13	2
2C:33-4A	Harassment – Causing Alarm	PDP	344	176	7	1	28
2C:33-4B	Harassment – Striking/Offensive Touching/Threats	PDP	71	45	4		5
2C:33-4C	Harassment – Any other alarming conduct	PDP	67	20	1	1	2
2C:33-4E	Harassment while imprisoned/paroled/probationer	4th	15	23

The following response was provided by the Juvenile Justice Commission:

The Juvenile Justice Commission (JJC) does not maintain or have direct access to detailed data on youth arrests, prosecutions, or adjudications (i.e. convictions). The JJC is not a prosecutorial agency. The JJC does not keep racial and ethnic data segregated by crimes for arrests, prosecutions, or adjudications for the juveniles committed to its care.

As “doxxing” is a new offense, the statistical data made available to the public by the Department of Corrections that categorize offenders by base offense (i.e. violent offense, property offense, public policy offense, weapons offense, and drug violations) does not accurately capture the nature of the crime described within this bill.

DATA PROVIDED BY THE JUDICIARY

The Administrative Office of the Courts was unable to provide data within the timeframe, established by the Legislative Services Commission, for the production of the Racial and Ethnic Community Justice and Public Safety Impact Statement.

---

[1] This racial and ethnic community criminal justice and public safety impact statement has been produced by the Office of Legislative Services pursuant to section 2 of P.L.2017, c.286 (C.52:11-57.1).  Although impact statements are considered a tool for policymaking, the Office of Legislative Services does not take a policy position in preparing a racial and ethnic community criminal justice and public safety impact statement.  The role of the Office of Legislative Services is to gather and present data for legislators to review.  This statement may reflect information provided by the United States Census Bureau, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention in the United States Department of Justice, New Jersey Department of Corrections, and Juvenile Justice Commission in the New Jersey Department of Law and Public Safety.

[2] Publicly available data obtained from the federal census for national and State populations as of April 1, 2020.

[3] Publicly available data of federally sentenced persons in custody of the Federal Bureau of Prisons, as of June 1, 2024.

[4] Publicly available data produced by the New Jersey Department of Corrections concerning the State inmate population on January 1, 2024. It has been reported by the New Jersey Department of Corrections that the Fiscal Year 2024 average daily population was 12,490. However, that number has not been sorted by race or ethnicity.

[5] Publicly available data produced by the New Jersey Department of Corrections concerning the State inmate population on January 1, 2024. It has been reported by the New Jersey Department of Corrections that the Fiscal Year 2024 average daily population was 12,490. However, that number has not been sorted by race or ethnicity.