Bill Text: NJ A4363 | 2012-2013 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Provides that the New Jersey Supreme Court shall have the authority to administer juror challenges through its rulemaking process.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 2-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2013-12-16 - Reported out of Assembly Committee, 2nd Reading [A4363 Detail]
Download: New_Jersey-2012-A4363-Introduced.html
Sponsored by:
Assemblyman JOSEPH CRYAN
District 20 (Union)
Assemblyman CHARLES MAINOR
District 31 (Hudson)
SYNOPSIS
Provides that the New Jersey Supreme Court shall have the authority to administer juror challenges through its rulemaking process.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As introduced.
An Act concerning peremptory challenges, amending N.J.S.2B:23-10 and repealing N.J.S.2B:23-13.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. N.J.S.2B:23-10 is amended to read as follows:
2B:23-10. Examination of jurors. a. In the discretion of the court, parties to any trial may question any person summoned as a juror after the name is drawn and before the swearing, and without the interposition of any challenge, to determine whether or not to interpose a peremptory challenge or a challenge for cause. Such examination shall be permitted in order to disclose whether or not the juror is qualified, impartial and without interest in the result of the action. The questioning shall be conducted in open court under the trial judge's supervision. The procedure for juror challenges, including the appropriate number of peremptory challenges, shall be established by the Rules of Court.
b. (Deleted by amendment, P.L.2007, c.204).
(cf: P.L. 2007, c.204, s.4)
2. N.J.S.2B:23-13 is repealed.
3. This act shall take effect immediately.
STATEMENT
This bill addresses the authority for the establishment and administration of peremptory challenges. A peremptory challenge is a challenge to a prospective juror which is exercised by a party in a civil case or criminal prosecution and which, unlike a challenge for cause, does not require a reason or an explanation. Currently, there are nearly identical authorizations for the exercise of peremptory challenges in both the New Jersey Statutes (N.J.S.A.2B:23-13) and New Jersey Rules of Court (R.1:8-3). Because the administration of peremptory and for cause challenges to jurors is primarily a procedural element of trial practice, this bill would eliminate the statutory authorization for peremptory challenges in favor of the administration of all juror challenges by the Supreme Court. Under the bill, the Supreme Court through its rulemaking powers would have the authority to establish and administer the procedures for juror challenges, both peremptory and for cause.
