Social Justice
N.J. set to become haven for out-of-staters seeking abortions
A bill headed to Gov. Phil Murphy's desk would ban the extradition of people who get or perform abortions in New Jersey to states that criminalize the procedure.
Advocates call for more detailed demographic data to improve public policy
The New Jersey Assembly is set to vote on a bill Wednesday that would require "data disaggregation" of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders.
Court ruling on tinted windows a win in fight against unjustified police car stops
The N.J. Supreme Court reinforced a state law on tinted car windows in ruling a 2018 police stop in Trenton unconstitutional.
Courts must do more to ensure defendants’ right to speedy trial, N.J. Supreme Court says
COVID restrictions and judicial vacancies are leading to yearslong trial delays, with defendants' liberty at stake, the chief justice warns
Eight months after launch, fund for immigrant workers has doled out more than $30 million
Progressive groups and immigrant activists have called on the governor to allocate $1 billion for immigrants and their families excluded from federal pandemic aid.
Assembly panel moves on package of gun control bills
Gov. Phil Murphy first proposed the gun control package in April 2021, and renewed his push for them after recent massacres in Buffalo and Texas.
Panel to weigh whether people wrongfully detained are eligible for unemployment benefits
While maintenance worker Clarence Haley was in jail after his arrest in 2017, his mother asked his employer to hold the position open for him. But by the time a prosecutor dismissed all charges against Haley eight weeks later, he had been fired. Released from detention and trying to get back on his feet after […]
Cities, rural counties have highest incarceration rates in N.J., study finds
While New Jersey cities continue to send the most people to prison, some of its most rural counties have disproportionately high incarceration rates, a new study says. About half of the people now imprisoned in New Jersey come from its cities — Newark, Camden, Paterson, Trenton, Jersey City, Atlantic City, and Elizabeth, according to the report, […]
Remove term ‘illegal alien’ from N.J. statutes, lawmaker says
In New Jersey statutes about education, taxes, and even lottery prizes, undocumented immigrants are referred to as “illegal aliens” more than 80 times. That term may not remain there too long under a new bill that would change the outdated term to a more humanizing one. “When I hear alien, I think of another planet […]
New Jersey expanding program pairing cops with mental health counselors
A program that pairs plainclothes state troopers with mental health experts to better respond to mental health crises will expand to Elizabeth and Linden in Union County, acting Attorney General Matt Platkin announced Monday. The program is intended to deescalate potentially volatile encounters between police and people in crisis from emotional distress or a mental […]
Six correctional officers accused of lying about inmate attack
Six correctional officers have been criminally charged and accused of pepper-spraying and injuring a compliant inmate while forcibly removing him from his cell, acting Attorney General Matt Platkin said Friday. The officers — a sergeant and five senior correctional officers — then lied and tried to cover up the April 2020 incident as a justified […]
N.J. to bar cops from jailing people who skip court, don’t pay fines on minor offenses
Police in New Jersey can no longer jail people who fail to appear in municipal courts or pay fines for minor offenses, under a new directive issued Wednesday by acting Attorney General Matt Platkin. The move is intended to reduce both pretrial incarceration and potentially volatile police encounters, Platkin said. It will also save cops […]