One of our top priority bills for our juvenile attorney this session was HB 60 Juvenile Justice Modifications, which amends statutes related to juvenile records. Specifically, it prohibits public employers from excluding applicants from initial interviews due to a juvenile delinquency adjudication; requires the State Board of Education to include information about dangerous weapons in an annual report on school discipline and law enforcement action; provides that a juvenile may petition the juvenile court for vacatur of the adjudication if the adjudication was for a violation of prostitution, aiding prostitution, sexual solicitation, or human trafficking for labor if the petitioner engaged in the human trafficking for labor while subject to force, fraud, or coercion; clarifies the court can expunge records of arrest, investigation, detention, delinquency petitions, and non judicial adjustments; allows for expungement of a petition found not true 30 days after the judicial decision; requires the court to consider certain factors before expunging if the person is a restricted person creates automatic expungement for records consisting solely of successful non judicial adjustments completed on or after October 1, 2023. The court received $566,100 in funding for implementation.

HB 61 School Safety Requirements creates the School Security Task Force. The original version of this bill required all secondary schools to have a school resource officer (SRO), but this was removed in the final language. Instead, the bill standardizes SRO guidelines. 

HB 122 Sex Offender Registry Amendments moves the registry requirements from the sentencing portion of the statute to the administrative section. It requires that any youth who register will be placed on a private registry and allows an offender under 21 years old whose conviction did not involve force or coercion to request a lifetime registration requirement be reduced to a ten-year requirement. This bill does NOT change which youth register.

HB 304 Juvenile Justice Revisions was one of our high priority issues. This bill designates existing funds for a juvenile gang and other violent crime prevention and intervention program; requires courts to notify schools and SROs about students that have committed violent felonies, weapons offenses, or are placed on probation; requires schools to create a reintegration plan for every student they receive a notification from court for; expands when a school can refer a case directly to law enforcement or court; allows for detention to be used for class C offenses and contempt of court for the substantive offense happening on school property; makes it a class B misdemeanor for a juvenile to possess a machine gun attachment; emphasizes reporting requirements on weapons brought to school; and modifies non judicial eligibility requirements, including adding to the list of offenses not eligible of NJ through probation. The original bill allowed detention to be used for status offenses (truancy) and the valid court order exception, allowed tobacco and truancy to be referred directly to law enforcement and court, and restricted NJA eligibility.

HB 400 School Absenteeism Amendments directs LEAs to include certain evidence-based strategies for children as part of their efforts to reduce student absenteeism. It amends the responsibilities of the Division of Juvenile Justice and Youth Services to require the use of evidence-informed and research-informed interventions.

HB 520 Child Welfare Changes would have amended the definition of “threatened harm” in the Juvenile code. 

SB 15 Juvenile Offender Penalty Amendments clarifies that adult sentencing requirements apply to a youth who is transferred to the adult system. It does not change the improvements made to the law for delayed reporting.

SB 49 Juvenile Custodial Interrogation Amendments changes the time police officers may detain youth in a law enforcement holding room from 2 to 4 hours. Creates youth specific Miranda warnings.

SB 67 Juvenile Commitment Amendments prohibits the extension of a juvenile offender's term of secure care for a misdemeanor offense if it would exceed a term of imprisonment for an adult for the same offense.

SB 186 Juvenile Court Amendments clarifies that a request for restitution must be submitted to the court by the prosecuting attorney or victim’s attorney. The victim impact statement sent to probation by the victim does not constitute a request for restitution.

SB 220 Juvenile Court Judge Amendments increases the number of juvenile judges assigned to a certain judicial district from five to six.

SB 290 Juvenile Court Modifications was a bill we brought to the sponsor. It amends the original jurisdiction of the juvenile court to include jurisdiction over a petition for special findings and allows for the juvenile court to enter an order with special findings regarding the abuse, neglect, or dependence of a non citizen child up to the age of 21. Previously, the law only covered juveniles up to the age of 18.