a. This Title shall be known and may be cited as the "New Jersey
Code of Criminal Justice."
b. Except as provided in subsections c.
and d. of this section, the code does not apply to offenses committed prior to
its effective date and prosecutions and dispositions for such offenses shall be
governed by the prior law, which is continued in effect for that purpose, as if
this code were not in force. For the purposes of this section, an offense was
committed after the effective date of the code if any of the elements of the
offenses occurred subsequent thereto.
c. In any case pending on or
initiated after the effective date of the code involving an offense committed
prior to such date:
(1) The procedural provisions of the code shall
govern, insofar as they are justly applicable and their application does not
introduce confusion or delay;
(2) The court, with the consent of the
defendant, may impose sentence under the provisions of the code applicable to
the offense and the offender.
(3) The court shall, if the offense
committed is no longer an offense under the provisions of the code, dismiss
such prosecution.
d. (1) The provisions of the code governing the
treatment and the release or discharge of prisoners, probationers and parolees
shall apply to persons under sentence for offenses committed prior to the
effective date of the code, except that the minimum or maximum period of their
detention or supervision shall in no case be increased.
(2) Any
person who is under sentence of imprisonment on the effective date of the code
for an offense committed prior to the effective date which has been eliminated
by the code or who has been sentenced to a maximum term of imprisonment for an
offense committed prior to the effective date which exceeds the maximum
established by the code for such an offense and who, on said effective date,
has not had his sentence suspended or been paroled or discharged, may move to
have his sentence reviewed by the sentencing court and the court may impose a
new sentence, for good cause shown as though the person had been convicted under
the code, except that no period of detention or supervision shall be increased
as a result of such resentencing.
e. The provisions of the code not
inconsistent with those of prior laws shall be construed as a continuation of
such laws.
f. The classification and arrangement of the several
sections of the code have been made for the purpose of convenience, reference
and orderly arrangement, and therefore no implication or presumption of a
legislative construction is to be drawn therefrom.
g. In the
construction of the code, or any part thereof, no outline or analysis of the
contents of said title or of any subtitle, chapter, article or section, no
cross-reference or cross-reference note and no headnote or source note to any
section shall be deemed to be a part of the code.
h. If said title
or any subtitle, chapter, article or section of the code, or any provision
thereof, shall be declared to be unconstitutional, invalid or inoperative in
whole or in part, by a court of competent jurisdiction, such title, subtitle,
chapter, article, section or provision shall, to the extent that it is not
unconstitutional, invalid or inoperative, be enforced and effectuated, and no
such determination shall be deemed to invalidate or make ineffectual the
remaining provisions of the title, or of any subtitle, chapter, article or
section of the code.
L.1978, c. 95, s. 2C:1-1, eff. Sept. 1, 1979.
Amended by L.1979, c. 178, s. 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1979.
2C:1-2.
Purposes; principles of construction
a. The general purposes of the provisions
governing the definition of offenses are:
(1) To forbid,
prevent, and condemn conduct that unjustifiably and inexcusably inflicts or
threatens serious harm to individual or public interests;
(2) To
insure the public safety by preventing the commission of offenses through the
deterrent influence of the sentences authorized, the rehabilitation of those
convicted, and their confinement when required in the interests of public
protection;
(3) To subject to public control persons whose conduct
indicates that they are disposed to commit offenses;
(4) To give
fair warning of the nature of the conduct proscribed and of the sentences
authorized upon conviction;
(5) To differentiate on reasonable
grounds between serious and minor offenses; and
(6) To
define adequately the act and mental state which constitute each offense, and
limit the condemnation of conduct as criminal when it is without fault.
b. The general purposes of the provisions governing the sentencing
of offenders are:
(1) To prevent and condemn the commission of
offenses;
(2) To promote the correction and rehabilitation of
offenders;
(3) To insure the public safety by preventing the
commission of offenses through the deterrent influence of sentences imposed and
the confinement of offenders when required in the interest of public
protection;
(4) To safeguard offenders against excessive,
disproportionate or arbitrary punishment;
(5) To give fair warning
of the nature of the sentences that may be imposed on conviction of an offense;
(6) To differentiate among offenders with a view to a just
individualization in their treatment;
(7) To advance the use of
generally accepted scientific methods and knowledge in sentencing offenders;
and
(8) To promote restitution to victims.