Bill Text: NJ S1960 | 2010-2011 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Clarifies language concerning criminal causation in accordance with recommendation by New Jersey Law Revision Commission.
Spectrum: Bipartisan Bill
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2010-05-20 - Introduced in the Senate, Referred to Senate Judiciary Committee [S1960 Detail]
Download: New_Jersey-2010-S1960-Introduced.html
Sponsored by:
Senator JOHN A. GIRGENTI
District 35 (Bergen and Passaic)
Senator KEVIN J. O'TOOLE
District 40 (Bergen, Essex and Passaic)
SYNOPSIS
Clarifies language concerning criminal causation in accordance with recommendation by New Jersey Law Revision Commission.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As introduced.
An Act concerning criminal causation and amending N.J.S.2C:2-3.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. N.J.S.2C:2-3 is amended to read as follows:
2C:2-3. Causal Relationship Between Conduct and Result; Divergence Between Result Designed, Contemplated or Risked and Actual Result.
a. Conduct is the cause of a result when:
(1) It is an antecedent but for which the result in question would not have occurred; and
(2) The relationship between the conduct and result satisfies any additional causal requirements imposed by the code or by the law defining the offense.
b. When the offense requires that the defendant purposely or knowingly cause a particular result, the actual result must be within the design or contemplation, as the case may be, of the actor, or, if not, the actual result must involve the same kind of injury or harm as that designed or contemplated and not be too remote, accidental in its occurrence, or dependent on another's volitional act to have a just bearing on the actor's liability or on the gravity of his offense.
c. (1) When the offense requires that the defendant recklessly [or criminally negligently] cause a particular result, the actual result must be within the risk of which the actor is aware [or, in the case of criminal negligence, of which he should be aware,] or, if not, the actual result must involve the same kind of injury or harm as the [probable] result within the risk of which the actor is aware and must be reasonably foreseeable and must not be too remote, accidental in its occurrence, or too dependent on another's volitional act to have a just bearing on the actor's liability or on the gravity of his offense.
(2) When the offense requires that the defendant criminally negligently cause a particular result, the actual result must be within the risk of which the actor should be aware or, if not, the actual result must involve the same kind of injury or harm as the result within the risk of which the actor should be aware and must be reasonably foreseeable and must not be too remote, accidental in its occurrence, or too dependent on another's volitional act to have a just bearing on the actor's liability or on the gravity of his offense.
d. A defendant shall not be relieved of responsibility for causing a result if the only difference between what actually occurred and what was designed, contemplated or risked is that a different person or property was injured or affected or that a less serious or less extensive injury or harm occurred.
e. When causing a particular result is a material element of an offense for which absolute liability is imposed by law, the element is not established unless the actual result is [a probable consequence of the actor's conduct] reasonably foreseeable and not too remote, accidental in its occurrence or too dependent on another's volitional act to have a just bearing on the defendant's culpability.
(cf: P.L.1978, c.95, s.2C:2-3)
2. This act shall take effect on the 90th day following enactment and shall apply to all offenses committed on or after the effective date.
STATEMENT
This bill would clarify language in N.J.S.2C:2-3 concerning criminal causation and culpability. The bill embodies a recommendation by the New Jersey Law Revision Commission in its report titled "Criminal Code Causation," issued November 2007 and current as of December 31, 2009.
Currently, the statute uses the phrases "probable result" and "probable consequence," which may cause confusion for juries in determining whether a defendant is guilty of a crime. N.J.S.2C:2-3c. provides that when an offense in the Criminal Code "requires that the defendant recklessly or criminally negligently cause a particular result, the actual result . . . must involve the same kind of injury or harm as the probable result and must not be too remote, accidental in its occurrence, or dependent on another's volitional act to have a just bearing on the actor's liability or on the gravity of his offense." N.J.S.2C:2-3e. provides that "when causing a particular result is a material element of an offense for which absolute liability is imposed by law, the element is not established unless the actual result is a probable consequence of the actor's conduct." [Emphasis added.]
According to the Commission report, the phrases in this context do not mean "likely" or "probably" as they would in common English. Instead, the courts have defined the phrases to mean "reasonably foreseeable" and "not too remote, accidental in its occurrence or too dependent on another's volitional act to have a just bearing on the defendant's culpability."
This bill would amend the statute in accordance with the courts' definition. The bill would also separate the language concerning "recklessly" and "criminally negligently" into two separate paragraphs in the interests of clarity.
