NJ Bail Reform
…And How It Will Affect Foreign Nationals
In November I told you about several changes coming to the NJ criminal Justice system in the New Year and now, several months later those changes are being implemented. The most notable change for foreign nationals facing criminal charges regards Bail Reform. Below is an excerpt from that article, which you can view in full here. I have also included a presentation on NJ Bail Reform that covers the object of bail reform, types of complaints, information on Risk Assessment Hearings as well as Pretrial Detention Hearings. You can download that presentation here.
In order to understand the changes to the criminal system that will take place in NJ on January 1, 2017, you must understand what happens once you are arrested. Within 48 hours of your arrest, the court will issue a pretrial decision, which is generally one of the following:
- You should be released with no charges or summons;
- You should be released with a summons to return to court on a particular date to face your charges;
- You should be held and can only be released if you pay the bail set in your case.
Bail can range from a few hundred dollars to a million dollars or more, depending on the alleged offense. However, many people who are arrested for relatively minor offenses cannot even afford to pay a small amount of bail and then they must sit in jail waiting for their case to be resolved.
The new bail reform in New Jersey will require anyone who is not released on a summons to have their case reviewed by a court that will set bail based on the following factors:
- Whether release presents a threat to the community
- The likelihood of the defendant coming to court
Bail will not be an automatic and arbitrary decision and instead, defense attorneys will have the opportunity to argue for a quick pretrial release instead of bail. This should significantly reduce the number of financially struggling defendants – both citizens and non-citizens – that will have to wait in jail for extended periods of time during their cases.
If you have any questions regarding these or other changes to the NJ criminal justice system, my office can offer you guidance. Please call for a consultation today 201-703-9400
