2C:48B-1 Findings, declarations relative to certain racial and ethnic impact statements.

1. The Legislature finds and declares that:

a. Public policymakers are increasingly concerned with the disparity between the number of minorities in the population and the number incarcerated in jails and prisons.

b. Racial and ethnic disparities in America's criminal justice system result in devastating consequences to society: offenders face daunting employment challenges, reduced lifetime employment earnings, and lack of access to public benefits; offenders' families face the shame and stigma associated with incarceration, as well as the loss of financial and emotional support of a loved one; and high rates of recidivism and burgeoning prison system costs affect all communities.

c. Nationally, one of every nine black males between 20 and 34 years old is incarcerated; 37 percent of prisoners under federal and state jurisdiction at the end of 2014 were black, 32 percent were white, and 22 percent were Hispanic; according to 2014 United States Census data, 13.2 percent of the United States population is black.

d. In this State, 60 percent of the prison population is black, 23 percent is white, and 16 percent is Hispanic; blacks make up 14.8 percent of the general population.

e. Based on current trends, one of three black males born today will serve time; the odds of Hispanic males serving time are one in six. In New Jersey, black juveniles are 24.3 times more likely to be committed to a secure juvenile facility than their white counterparts, and almost 90 percent of youth prosecuted as adults are black or Hispanic.

f. Criminal justice policies, while neutral on their face, often adversely affect minority communities; these unintended consequences could be more adequately addressed prior to adoption of a new initiative, particularly since such initiatives, once adopted, often are difficult to reverse.

g. Racial and ethnic community criminal justice and public safety impact statements are tools to guide policymakers in proactively assessing how proposed sentencing initiatives affect racial and ethnic disparities of adults and juveniles in the criminal justice system. Similar to fiscal and environmental impact statements, they provide legislators and State agency executives with a statistical analysis of the projected impact of policy changes before legislative deliberation or rule adoption.

h. It is altogether fitting and proper, and in the public interest, to require racial and ethnic community criminal justice and public safety impact statements to be prepared for bills, resolutions, or amendments that may result in an increase or a decrease in the State's adult and juvenile pretrial detention, sentencing, probation, or parole populations.

i. It is also altogether fitting and proper, and in the public interest, to require racial and ethnic community criminal justice and public safety impact statements to be included in the notice of a proposed agency rule that could increase or decrease the State's adult and juvenile pretrial detention, sentencing, probation, or parole populations.

L.2017, c.286, s.1.