2C:35-1.1. Declaration of policy and legislative findings
The Legislature hereby finds and declares to be the public policy of this State, the following:
a. By enactment of the New Jersey Code of Criminal Justice, N.J.S.
2C:1-1 et seq., the Legislature recognized the need for the
comprehensive reevaluation, revision, consolidation and codification of
our criminal laws, and the need to ensure a uniform, consistent and
predictable system for the sentencing of convicted offenders, focusing
principally on the seriousness and degree of dangerousness inherent in a
particular offense. In enacting the sentencing provisions of the penal
code, the Legislature recognized that the imposition of a uniform,
consistent and predictable sentence for a given offense is an essential
prerequisite to any rational deterrent scheme designed ultimately to
reduce the incidence of crime.
b. Despite the impressive efforts and gains of our law enforcement
agencies, the unlawful use, manufacture and distribution of controlled
dangerous substances continues to pose a serious and pervasive threat to
the health, safety and welfare of the citizens of this State. New
Jersey continues to experience an unacceptably high rate of drug-related
crime, and continues to serve as a conduit for the illegal trafficking
of drugs to and from other jurisdictions. In addition to the harm
suffered by the victims of drug abuse and drug-related crime, the
incidence of such offenses is directly related to the rate of other
violent and non-violent crimes, including murder, assault, robbery,
theft, burglary and organized criminal activities. For this reason,
enhanced and coordinated efforts designed specifically to curtail
drug-related offenses will lead inexorably to a reduction in the rate of
crime generally, and is therefore decidedly in the public interest.
c. In order to be effective, the battle against drug abuse and
drug-related crime must be waged aggressively at every level along the
drug distribution chain, but in particular, our criminal laws must
target for expedited prosecution and enhanced punishment those repeat
drug offenders and upper echelon members of organized narcotics
trafficking networks who pose the greatest danger to society. In order
to ensure the most efficient and effective dedication of limited
investigative, prosecutorial, judicial and correctional resources, it is
the policy of this State to distinguish between drug offenders based on
the seriousness of the offense, considering principally the nature,
quantity and purity of the controlled substance involved, and the role
of the actor in the overall drug distribution network. It is the
intention of the Legislature to provide for the strict punishment,
deterrence and incapacitation of the most culpable and dangerous drug
offenders, and to facilitate where feasible the rehabilitation of drug
dependent persons so as ultimately to reduce the demand for illegal
controlled dangerous substances and the incidence of drug-related crime.
It is also the policy of this State to afford special protection to
children from the perils of drug trafficking, to ensure that all schools
and areas adjacent to schools are kept free from drug distribution
activities, and to provide especially stern punishment for those drug
offenders who operate on or near schools and school buses, who
distribute to juveniles, or who employ juveniles in a drug distribution
scheme. In addition, our criminal laws and sentencing practices must be
reexamined and amended so as to minimize pretrial delay, thereby to
ensure the prompt disposition of all drug-related criminal charges and
the prompt imposition of fair and certain punishment.
d. Under the current drug laws, there are inadequate sentencing
guidelines with which consistently to identify the most serious
offenders and offenses and to guard against sentencing disparity and the
resulting depreciation of the deterrent thrust of the criminal law. In
order to protect the public interest, and so as to deter, disrupt and
eliminate the operation of organized drug trafficking networks, it is
necessary to undertake a comprehensive reexamination of our controlled
dangerous substances laws, procedures and sentencing practices. The
transfer of the provisions of the New Jersey Controlled Dangerous
Substances Act, P.L. 1970, c. 226 (C. 24:21-1 et seq.) into the penal
code which is accomplished herein, along with the amendments and
supplements thereto, will better ensure that the most culpable drug
offenders will be subject to swift prosecutions and strict, consistently
imposed criminal sanctions.
L. 1987, c. 106, s. 1.
