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S3909
SENATE, No. 3909
STATE OF NEW JERSEY
222nd LEGISLATURE
�
INTRODUCED MARCH 12, 2026
Sponsored by:
Senator� ANGELA V. MCKNIGHT
District 31 (Hudson)
SYNOPSIS
���� Establishes a Division on Violence Prevention and
Intervention in the DLPS.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
���� As introduced.
��
An Act
establishing the
Division on Violence Prevention
and Intervention in the Department of Law and Public Safety, supplementing
Title 52 of the Revised Statutes, and making an appropriation.
����
Be It
Enacted
by the Senate and General Assembly of
the State of New Jersey:
���� 1.��� a.� The Attorney General
shall establish a Division on Violence Prevention and Intervention in the
Department of Law and Public Safety.� The purpose of the division shall be to
ensure that each county provides well-coordinated and accessible violence
prevention resources to persons in the county.
���� b.��� The administrator and
head of the division shall be a director, who shall be known as the Director of
Violence Prevention and Intervention, and who shall be a person qualified by
training and experience to perform the duties of the office of the director.�
The director shall be appointed by the Attorney General and shall receive a
salary as shall be provided by law.
���� c.���� The director may apply
for and accept on behalf of the State any grants from the Federal Government or
any agency thereof, or from any foundation, corporation, association or person,
and may comply with the terms, conditions and limitations thereof, for any of
the purposes of the division. Any money received may be expended by the
division, subject to any limitations imposed in the grants, to effectuate any
of the purposes of the division upon warrant of the Director of the Division of
Budget and Accounting of the Department of the Treasury on vouchers certified
and approved by the director.�
���� 2.��� a.� The county
prosecutor in each county shall appoint or designate a violence prevention and
intervention coordinator to serve as coordinator for the division in accordance
with the provisions of this section.� A person designated as a program
coordinator pursuant to this subsection shall not be deemed an employee of the
county prosecutor's office.
���� b.��� The program coordinator
shall:
���� (1)�� create a directory of
existing violence prevention services and activities in the county;�
���� (2)�� develop and recommend
services to be funded by local governing bodies which encompass both
interpersonal violence and suicide prevention programs;
���� (3)�� identify vacant
properties and existing community spaces that may be transformed for use by
local organizations that lead violence prevention activities or provide
supportive services to at-risk youth and their families;
���� (4)�� develop a network of
volunteers and mentors within the community who:
���� (a)�� can address issues such
as youth violence and suicide prevention; and
���� (b)�� offer community outreach
that provides guidance to young people about engaging in voluntary behavior
with the intent to help others;
���� (5)�� emphasize collaboration
among all agencies that work with at-risk populations, identify cross-cutting
risk factors and prevention strategies, and establish working groups to address
core issues including, but not limited to, homicide and suicide prevention,
youth violence, and drug abuse;
���� (6)�� encourage local
organizations that provide violence prevention services to seek out and apply
for grant funding in support of their initiatives and provide technical
assistance and support to the organizations to maximize the likelihood of success
of the applications;
���� (7)�� partner with local institutions
of higher education to develop an evaluation tool for violence prevention and
reduction strategies and partner on grant applications to implement prevention
and reduction plans;
���� (8)�� focus on providing
assistance to ex-offenders with an expressed interest in transitioning back
into the community through employment assistance, treatment and counseling, and
housing; and
���� (9)�� incorporate the services
of ex-offenders who have rehabilitated themselves to serve as mentors or role
models for at-risk youth who have engaged in criminal activity or are at-risk
of engaging in criminal behavior.�
���� c.���� There shall be
appropriated annually from the General Fund:
���� (1)�� to the Department of Law
and Public Safety the salary costs of the Director of the Division on Violence
Prevention and Intervention appointed pursuant to section 1 of P.L.��� c.���
(C.������� ) (pending before the Legislature as this bill); and
���� (2)�� to each county the salary
costs of county violence prevention and intervention coordinators appointed
pursuant to this section.
���� 3.��� This act shall take
effect on the first day of the fourth month next following the date of
enactment.
STATEMENT
���� This bill establishes a
Division on Violence Prevention and Intervention in the Department of Law and
Public Safety.� The purpose of the division is to ensure that each county
provides access to well-coordinated violence prevention resources to persons in
the county. �
���� The division is to be overseen
by a Director of Violence Prevention and Intervention, who is to be appointed
by the Attorney General.� The director is authorized under the bill to apply
for and accept on behalf of the State any grants from the Federal Government or
agency, or from any foundation, corporation, association or person, for any of
the purposes of the division.
���� The provisions of the bill
also require the county prosecutor in each county to appoint or designate a
violence prevention and intervention coordinator.� A person designated as a
program coordinator is not to be deemed an employee of the county prosecutor's
office.�
���� The program coordinator is
required to: (1) create a directory of existing violence prevention services
and activities in the county; (2) develop and recommend services to be funded
by local governing bodies; (3) identify vacant properties or existing community
spaces that could be transformed for use by local organizations that lead
violence prevention activities or provide supportive services to at-risk youth
and their families; (4) develop a network of volunteers and mentors within the
community who can address issues such as youth violence and suicide prevention,
as well as offer community outreach to provide guidance to young people about
engaging in voluntary behavior with the intent to help others; (5) emphasize
collaboration among all agencies that work with at-risk populations, identify
cross-cutting risk factors and prevention strategies and establish working
groups to address core issues including, but not limited to, homicide and
suicide prevention, youth violence, and drug abuse; (6) encourage local
organizations that provide violence prevention services to seek out grant
funding, and provide technical assistance and support to the organizations to
maximize the likelihood of success of the applications; (7) partner with local institutions
of higher education to develop an evaluation tool for violence prevention and
reduction strategies and partner on grant applications to implement prevention
and reduction plans; (8) focus on providing assistance to ex-offenders with an
expressed interest in transitioning back into the community through employment
assistance, treatment and counseling, and housing; and (9) incorporate the
services of ex-offenders who have rehabilitated themselves to serve as mentors
or role models for at-risk youth who have engaged in criminal activity or are
at-risk of engaging in criminal behavior.�
���� The bill further provides for
annual appropriations to the Department of Law and Public Safety for payment of
the salary costs of the Director of the Division on Violence Prevention and
Intervention, and to each county for the salary costs of county violence
prevention and intervention coordinators.
���� This bill implements one of
the recommendations of New Jersey�s independent Study Commission on Violence in
its report issued in October 2015.