Both the judiciary and the prosecutor's office will need to hire new staff members to handle 'pretrial services'
MORRISTOWN -- The bail reform law going into effect in New Jersey in 2017 will require "an extraordinary amount of resources" including the hiring of additional staff members, the assignment judge for Morris and Sussex counties told the Morris County freeholders on Wednesday.
The constitutional amendment, approved by state voters as a ballot question in 2014, will require full hearings within 48 hours for defendants who are accused of an indictable offense and considered a flight risk or a danger to the community. The hearings will require attorneys for both sides and will be held on weekends as well as weekdays, said Judge Stuart Minkowitz.
Most offenders will be released with conditions and will require supervision by a new pre-trial services staff, while those accused of murder and other violent offenses may be detained without bail, Minkowitz said.
"Bail as we know it is going away," Minkowitz said.
The law is scheduled to become effective statewide on Jan. 1, 2017, but Morris-Sussex, along with the court vicinages serving Camden and Passaic counties, will begin some implementation of the new procedures in mid-2016 as a "pilot program" ahead of the rest of the state, Minkowitz said.
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Minkowitz, who has been working with state judiciary officials to plan the program, briefed the freeholders on the status of the program and what it will require.
Minkowitz estimated that the judiciary will need nine additional staff members for pretrial supervision of defendants in Morris County alone. Those positions would be funded by the state.
Officials from the Morris County Prosecutor's Office also spoke at the meeting and they said "10 to 15" additional staff members would be needed to provide pretrial services. Those positions, which would be funded by the county, would likely cost about $1.5 million, according to the prosecutor's office.
The law was passed in 2014 with two major purposes in mind: To ensure that the most dangerous criminals are detained before trial, and to ensure that those accused of less serious offenses aren't held in jail simply because they can't afford to pay bail.
"In the past, those who could afford to pay were released and those who could not stayed incarcerated," Minkowitz said.
Meanwhile, the bail guidelines still in effect "did not allow judges to consider whether a defendant was a danger to the community, only if they were a flight risk," Minkowitz pointed out.
The system drew severe criticism after some violent offenders committed crimes while out on bail after posting only a portion of their bail through bail bondsmen.
Under the new system, Minkowitz said, there will be no more "paying of bail at the police station" and many of those charged with an indictable crime will go to jail for 48 hours pending their hearing. Under guidelines still being worked out, police may have discretion to release low-risk offenders.
Suspects will be fingerprinted at the police station and police will have access to numerous criminal databases that will tell them of the defendant's prior record.
A computerized "risk assessment tool" will determine whether the defendant is a low, moderate or high risk, and will assign a numerical score. That key bit of information will guide police, attorneys and judges, Minkowitz said.
For many defendants, the judge will make a "determination of conditions of pretrial release," which could be as serious as wearing an ankle bracelet and might still include bail in certain situations, Minkowitz said.
If the prosecutor wants to detain a suspect accused of a violent crime, he or she will have three days beyond the 48 hours to hold a "plenary hearing" where "the state must provide clear and convincing evidence that the person should be detained," Minkowitz said.
Officials from the prosecutor's office agreed that the new law will require a lot of redirection along with new staffing.
"We are 100 percent certain this is a paradigm shift that none of us has experienced," said Assistant Prosecutor John McNamara Jr., the office's senior trial counsel.
The freeholders said they are uncertain where the funds will come from, but acknowledged it is something that will have to be paid for.
"It's an unfunded mandate," said Freeholder Director Kathy DeFillippo. "People voted to support this."
Freeholder Douglas Cabana, an attorney, suggested the problems could be addressed by the Legislature, but noted that under present circumstances, "Procedurally, this is going to be a challenge."
"We're going to have to provide resources within our 2-percent cap," Cabana said. "Other areas may have to be cut."
Ben Horowitz may be reached at bhorowitz@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @HorowitzBen. Find NJ.com on Facebook.
