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A135 • 2026

Allows juvenile regardless of age to be tried as adult for committing homicide against law enforcement officer.

Allows juvenile regardless of age to be tried as adult for committing homicide against law enforcement officer.

Children
Passed Legislature

This bill passed both chambers and reached final enrollment, even if later executive action is not shown here.

Sponsor
Barlas, Al
Last action
2026-01-13
Official status
Introduced, Referred to Assembly Judiciary Committee
Effective date
Not listed

Plain English Breakdown

Using official source text because the generated explanation was unavailable or could not be confirmed against the official bill text.

Allows juvenile regardless of age to be tried as adult for committing homicide against law enforcement officer.

Allows juvenile regardless of age to be tried as adult for committing homicide against law enforcement officer.

What This Bill Does

  • Allows juvenile regardless of age to be tried as adult for committing homicide against law enforcement officer.
  • Topic: Judiciary Fiscal note: This bill has been certified by OLS for a fiscal note.

Limits and Unknowns

  • This entry is temporarily using official source text because the generated explanation could not be confirmed against the official bill text during the last sync.

Bill History

  1. 2026-01-13 New Jersey Legislature

    Introduced, Referred to Assembly Judiciary Committee

Official Summary Text

Allows juvenile regardless of age to be tried as adult for committing homicide against law enforcement officer.
Topic:
Judiciary
Fiscal note:
This bill has been certified by OLS for a fiscal note.

Current Bill Text

Read the full stored bill text 
A135

ASSEMBLY, No. 135

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

222nd LEGISLATURE

�

PRE-FILED FOR INTRODUCTION IN THE 2026 SESSION

Sponsored by:

Assemblyman AL BARLAS

District 40 (Bergen, Essex and Passaic)

SYNOPSIS

���� Allows juvenile regardless of age to be tried as
adult for committing homicide against law enforcement officer.

CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT

���� Introduced Pending Technical Review by Legislative
Counsel.

��

An Act

concerning
juvenile waiver and
supplementing Title 2A of the New Jersey Statutes.�

����
Be It
Enacted
by the Senate and General Assembly of
the State of New Jersey:

����
1.��� (New
section) a. �Notwithstanding the provisions of section 1 of P.L.2015, c.89
(C.2A:4A-26.1), the court shall waive jurisdiction of a juvenile delinquency
case without the juvenile�s consent and shall refer the case to the appropriate
court and prosecuting authority having jurisdiction if there is probable cause
to believe that:

���� (1)� the juvenile committed a
delinquent act which if committed by an adult would constitute criminal
homicide, other than death by auto, for purposely or knowingly causing the death
of another person; and

���� (2)� the victim was a law
enforcement officer and was murdered while acting in the performance of the
officer�s duties while in uniform or exhibiting evidence of authority or
because of the officer�s status as a law enforcement officer.�

���� b.��� The court may deny a
motion by the prosecutor to waive jurisdiction of a juvenile delinquency case
pursuant to subsection a. of this section if it is clearly convinced that
seeking the waiver is an abuse of the prosecutor�s discretion.� �

���� 2.��� This act shall take
effect immediately

STATEMENT

���� This bill revises the juvenile
waiver law to allow a juvenile to be tried as an adult for committing criminal
homicide against a law enforcement officer.� Specifically, the bill allows
juveniles to be tried as an adult in cases where
there
is probable cause to believe that the juvenile committed a delinquent act which
if committed by an adult would constitute
criminal homicide, other than
death by auto, and the victim was a law enforcement officer who was
performing the officer�s official duties or because of the
officer�s status as a law enforcement officer
.