Bill
S 3201
Boosts penalties for assaults on police and emergency workers to second-degree when serious injury occurs, and mandates communicable-disease testing for defendants tied to bodily-fluid attacks.
Status: Enacted (P.L.2024, c.94). Passed Senate June 28, 2024; passed Assembly Sept. 26, 2024; approved Nov. 18, 2024.
Purpose
- To increase criminal penalties for certain assaults on public-safety and emergency personnel and to require testing of defendants charged with assaults that involve bodily fluids for communicable diseases in circumstances where a victim may be exposed.
Key provisions
- Upgrades penalty when an assault on a law enforcement officer results in serious bodily injury:
- Such an offense is elevated to a second-degree crime (punishable by 5–10 years imprisonment, a fine up to $150,000, or both).
- A conviction for assaulting a law enforcement officer under this provision does not merge with convictions for other crimes.
- The No Early Release Act (NERA) mandatory term does not automatically apply to second‑degree assaults on law enforcement officers except when the assault results in serious bodily injury.
- A defendant charged with second‑degree assault of a law enforcement officer that results in serious bodily injury is ineligible for Pretrial Intervention services.
- Expands and increases penalties for "assault with bodily fluids":
- Adds court service officers, paid/volunteer firefighters, and persons engaged in emergency first‑aid or medical services to the list of protected victims already including various correctional and law enforcement personnel.
- Elevates the offense to a second‑degree crime when the victim suffers serious bodily injury; lesser injury levels remain punishable at lower degrees (third or fourth degree as applicable).
- Communicable disease testing of defendant:
- Any person charged with assault with a bodily fluid must provide a blood or other biological sample for testing for communicable diseases at a Department of Health‑licensed clinical laboratory either by consent or pursuant to a Superior Court warrant.
- A warrant must issue on probable cause that the defendant’s blood/fluids contacted a victim and that the victim is at risk of transmission; testing results that are positive must be shared with the victim.
- Samples obtained under such a warrant may be used only to test for communicable diseases unless a separate warrant is obtained for other investigatory uses; samples are required to be destroyed after testing.
Who is affected
- Protected classes: law enforcement officers, correctional staff, court service officers, firefighters, emergency medical / first‑aid personnel, various school employees, utility workers, healthcare workers and other categories listed in current assault statute.
- State and local criminal justice agencies: prosecutors, public defenders, courts, Department of Corrections, State Parole Board.
- Department of Health and clinical laboratories (testing responsibilities).
- Individuals charged with relevant assaults (higher exposure to longer terms and expanded testing obligations).
Procedural / fiscal notes
- OLS fiscal analysis: indeterminate increases in State (and local, per later estimate) expenditures and possible indeterminate revenue increases from fines. Upgrading offenses to second degree increases the presumption of incarceration, likely raising incarceration, court, prosecution, public defender, parole, and testing costs. DOC data show prior increases in assaults involving bodily fluids (e.g., 128 such assaults reported in 2021), but testing volume and payment responsibility are not specified.
Related/companion legislation: A2378 (companion), A8930 (companion), prior-session related bills listed in legislative history.
Compiled from official sources — confirm details with the bill’s official record.
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