SENATE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE

STATEMENT TO

SENATE, No. 3006

with committee amendments

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

DATED:  MAY 16, 2024

      The Senate Judiciary Committee reports favorably and with committee amendments Senate Bill No. 3006.

      This bill upgrades the crime of burglary of a residence, or any other dwelling or structure adapted for overnight accommodation of persons. 

      Specifically, the bill would make it a crime of the second degree to unlawfully enter or surreptitiously remain in a dwelling or other structure adapted for overnight accommodation of persons, whether or not a person is actually present.  The crime involving such a dwelling or other structure is currently graded as a third-degree crime, which is punishable by a term of imprisonment of three to five years, a fine of up to $15,000, or both, unless there are additional factors regarding the burglary to upgrade it, such as the actor inflicting or attempting to inflict bodily injury on anyone in the dwelling or other structure.  See N.J.S.2C:18-1, subsection b. The bill’s proposed upgrade to a second-degree crime, without any needed consideration of additional factors, would make the burglary of the dwelling or other structure punishable by a term of imprisonment of five to 10 years, a fine of up to $150,000, or both.

        The bill would additionally upgrade the burglary of a dwelling or other structure adapted for overnight accommodation of persons to a first-degree crime if the actor is also armed with or displays what appear to be explosives or a deadly weapon, or commits any first- or second-degree crime.  The additional factor concerning explosives or a deadly weapon already upgrades a third-degree burglary of any facility or structure to a second-degree crime, but this factor, or the commission of any first- or second-degree crime, combined with the burglary taking place in a residence, or any other dwelling or structure adapted for overnight accommodation of persons, would further the upgrade to a first-degree crime, which is punishable by a term of imprisonment of 10 to 20 years, a fine of up to $200,000, or both.

      The committee amendments to the bill:

      - reestablish, per the current law, that a burglary occurring in any facility, dwelling, or other structure is graded as a second-degree crime when the actor is additionally armed with or displays what appear to be explosives or a deadly weapon, and clarify how a burglary of only a dwelling or other structure adapted for overnight accommodation with this additional factor is upgraded to a first-degree crime; and

      - omit section 2 of the bill, which would have specified that only a burglary graded as a crime of the first- or second-degree would be subject to a mandatory minimum term of imprisonment under section 2 of the “No Early Release Act” (NERA) P.L.1997, c.117 (C.2C:43-7.2); that addition to the statutory law is unnecessary because NERA currently only applies to crimes graded and sentenced as first- or second-degree that appear on an enumerated list, which includes burglary.