New Jersey
This page lists the most applicable state crimes addressing
stalking. However, depending on the facts of the case, a stalker might also be
charged with other crimes, such as trespassing, intimidation of a witness,
breaking and entering, etc. Check your state code or consult with your local
prosecutor about other charges that might apply in a particular
case.
Stalking
Harassment
Analyzing Stalking
Laws
Stalking
N.J. Stat.
§ 2C:12-10. Definitions; stalking designated a crime;
degrees. (2009)
a. As used in this
act:
(1) "Course of conduct" means
repeatedly maintaining a visual or physical proximity to a person; directly,
indirectly, or through third parties, by any action, method, device, or means,
following, monitoring, observing, surveilling, threatening, or communicating
to or about, a person, or interfering with a person's property; repeatedly
committing harassment against a person; or repeatedly conveying, or causing to
be conveyed, verbal or written threats or threats conveyed by any other means
of communication or threats implied by conduct or a combination thereof
directed at or toward a person.
(2) "Repeatedly" means on two or
more occasions.
(3) "Emotional distress" means
significant mental suffering or distress.
(4) "Cause a reasonable person to
fear" means to cause fear which a reasonable victim, similarly situated, would
have under the circumstances.
b. A person is guilty of
stalking, a crime of the fourth degree, if he purposefully or knowingly
engages in a course of conduct directed at a specific person that would
cause a reasonable person to fear for his safety or the safety of a third
person or suffer other emotional distress.
c. A person is guilty of a crime
of the third degree if he commits the crime of stalking in violation of an
existing court order prohibiting the behavior.
d. A person who commits a second
or subsequent offense of stalking against the same victim is guilty of a
crime of the third degree.
e. A person is guilty of a crime
of the third degree if he commits the crime of stalking while serving a term
of imprisonment or while on parole or probation as the result of a
conviction for any indictable offense under the laws of this State, any
other state or the United States.
f. This act shall not apply to
conduct which occurs during organized group
picketing.
Amendment Note:
2009 amendment, by Chapter
28, in a.(1), inserted "directly, indirectly, or through third parties, by any
action, method, device, or means, following, monitoring, observing,
surveilling, threatening, or communicating to or about, a person, or
interfering with a person's property; repeatedly committing harassment against
a person", added present a.(3) and a.(4), and deleted former a.(3), which
read: "'Immediate family' means a spouse, parent, child, sibling or any other
person who regularly resides in the household or who within the prior six
months regularly resided in the household"; and in b., substituted "to fear
for his safety or the safety of a third person or suffer other emotional
distress" for "to fear bodily injury to himself or a member of his immediate
family or to fear the death of himself or a member of his immediate
family."
N.J. Stat. § 2C:12-10.1.Conviction for stalking, permanent
restraining order. (2010)
a. A judgment of conviction for
stalking shall operate as an application for a permanent restraining order
limiting the contact of the defendant and the victim who was
stalked.
b. A hearing shall be held on the
application for a permanent restraining order at the time of the verdict or
plea of guilty unless the victim requests otherwise. This hearing shall be
in Superior Court. A permanent restraining order may grant the following
specific relief:
(1) An order restraining the
defendant from entering the residence, property, school, or place of
employment of the victim and requiring the defendant to stay away from any
specified place that is named in the order and is frequented regularly by the
victim.
(2) An order restraining the
defendant from making contact with the victim, including an order forbidding
the defendant from personally or through an agent initiating any communication
likely to cause annoyance or alarm including, but not limited to, personal,
written, or telephone contact, or contact via electronic device, with the
victim, the victim's employers, employees, or fellow workers, or others with
whom communication would be likely to cause annoyance or alarm to the victim.
As used in this paragraph, "communication" shall have the same meaning as
defined in subsection q. of N.J.S.2C:1-14.
c. The permanent restraining
order entered by the court subsequent to a conviction for stalking as
provided in this act may be dissolved upon the application of the stalking
victim to the court which granted the order.
d. Notice of permanent
restraining orders issued pursuant to this act shall be sent by the clerk of
the court or other person designated by the court to the appropriate chiefs
of police, members of the State Police and any other appropriate law
enforcement agency or court.
e. Any permanent restraining
order issued pursuant to this act shall be in effect throughout the State,
and shall be enforced by all law enforcement
officers.
f. A violation by the defendant
of an order issued pursuant to this act shall constitute an offense under
subsection a. of N.J.S.2C:29-9 and each order shall so state. Violations of these orders may be enforced in
a civil or criminal action initiated by the stalking victim or by the court,
on its own motion, pursuant to applicable court rules. Nothing in this act
shall preclude the filing of a criminal complaint for stalking based on the
same act which is the basis for the violation of the permanent restraining
order.
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Harassment
N.J. Stat. § 2C:33-4.Harassment.
(2002)
Except as provided in subsection
e., a person commits a petty disorderly persons offense if, with purpose to
harass another, he:
a. Makes, or causes to be made, a
communication or communications anonymously or at extremely inconvenient
hours, or in offensively coarse language, or any other manner likely to
cause annoyance or alarm;
b. Subjects another to striking,
kicking, shoving, or other offensive touching, or threatens to do so;
or
c. Engages in any other course of
alarming conduct or of repeatedly committed acts with purpose to alarm or
seriously annoy such other person.
A communication under subsection
a. may be deemed to have been made either at the place where it originated
or at the place where it was received.
d. (Deleted by amendment, P.L.
2001, c. 443).
e. A person commits a crime of
the fourth degree if, in committing an offense under this section, he was
serving a term of imprisonment or was on parole or probation as the result
of a conviction of any indictable offense under the laws of this State, any
other state or the United States.
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