Skeptics say toughening state's care theft laws won't work

Groups also point to risk of wider discrimination

By: Katie Sobko
NorthJersey.com
USA Today Network - New Jersey

..... In an effort to get control of the historic number of auto thefts throughout the state, lawmakers have approved a spate of bills that would bring stricter punishment to those caught with stolen cars.
..... The measures have gotten bipartisan support in Trenton, but some advocacy groups say they discriminants against communities of color and actually wouldn't address the core cause of the problem. Lawmakers expect to revise the bills to try addressing those concerns while also deterring auto thefts.
..... "We don't want to kill a mosquito with a bazooka, so we're trying to be cognizant that we're not being too harsh," said Senator Joseph Lagana, a Democrat from Paramus who sponsors six of the bills.
..... "But at the same time, we have to remember that in all of these instances there are victims," he said.
..... New Jersey has seen a "near-epidemic" number of car thefts the last two years, Governor Phil Murphy said at a recent conference announcing a crackdown that includes stronger penalties and more funding against gang activity responsible for the crimes.
..... In testimony to lawmakers, Major Larry Williams of the New Jersey State Police said the organization estimated that about 15,644 cars were stolen in 2022, which would be up more than 1,000 from last year [2021] and nearly 4,000 more than in 2020.
..... But state data shows that there were 16,471 car thefts reported in 2012, and that was down from what it had been the year before.
..... Still, state leaders have raised alarms that the latest theft wave has gotten out of control, U.S. Representative Josh Gottheimer, D-Wychoff, is pushing for federal action, and Murphy has called on lawmakers to send him legislation to stiffen penalties.
..... More than half a dozen bills sailed through the Senate Judiciary Committee in December, [2022] including ones to raise stealing a care to a second-degree crime, increasing penalties for crimes such as carjacking and theft, and requiring vehicle identification numbers to be stamped on catalytic converters, a pricey part of a car's exhaust system often targeted by thieves.
..... Although there has been bipartisan support for the measures, there has also been bipartisan opposition.
..... The unlikely pair of Senators Neille Pou, D-Passaic, and Michael Testa, R-Cumberland, voted against a bill that would increase the penalties imposed on both juveniles and adults convicted of motor vehicle theft and related crimes.
..... Testa said he thinks the administration and the Attorney General's Office has been "openly soft" on the issue and has "decided they don't want to enforce the laws as they are on the books."
..... He went on to ask Stephen Finkel, the office's director of legislative affairs, and Williams of the state police during their testimony if there are repeat offenders because "they are getting a slap on the wrist while their court case is pending instead of sitting in a county jail" and if there should be "reform in the criminal justice system in terms of bail reform."
..... Finkel said he rejects "the premise that the Attorney General's Office is the reason car thefts are going up. I also reject the premise that we are not tough on crime. We are taking a smart approach to prosecution."

Questions of impacts on young people and communities of color

..... While Senator Brian Stack, D-Hudson, said that "as elected representatives we must do everything in our power to stop this surge in crime" and that "these thefts threaten the safety and security of all New Jersey residents and particularly our urban and suburban communities," soma are raising the impact of this legislation on communities of color.
..... Laura Cohen, director of the Criminal and Youth Justice Clinic at Rutgers Law School, testified that the proposals are "contrary to all that we have achieved in New Jersey."
..... "We know that incarceration increases rather than decreases recidivism at an astounding economic and social cost," she said. "New Jersey continues to have the worst racial disparities in youth incarceration in the country. Black youth are at least 18 times more likely to be incarcerated than white youth even though we also know children break the law at roughly equal rates across racial and ethnic lines."
..... Joe Johnson, policy counsel at the ACLU of New Jersey, said the data must be truly analyzed to understand the report causes of car thefts, and to make sure there are no "knee-jerk policy decisions that will over-criminalize New Jerseyans."
..... People don't steal cars because the penalties are too light or because they think they won't be detained before trial, he said. Johnson added that police identify and charge suspects in just 7% of auto theft cases.
..... "People are committing auto theft in the state of New Jersey because the data shows that they will not get caught," Johnson said. "What will changing the bail rules do, or what will adding criminal penalties do, when we are only applying criminal penalties in 7% of cases."
..... Lagana called the bills' movement an "evolving process" but said the state needs to "send a message that we're not going to tolerate car thefts." And "one way to do it is to increase the fines and punishment" so that people will "think twice before committing these crimes," he said.
..... But he also stressed that the Legislature has a "lot of work to do still on these bills." What lawmakers don't want, he said, "is to go back to the old system" where there are disparities in people being charged. He went on th say that legislators will "pay special attention to who exactly is being prosecuted and what the rate of recidivism is among these crimes."
..... Lagana also pointed to reforms passed under former Governor Chris Christie that effectively got rid of cash bail.
..... "I think that the passed bail reform measures have addressed a lot of these issues, so we certainly don't want to see people being prosecuted only because of the color of their skin, and we don't want to see people sitting in jail for minor crimes or for not paying minor fines," he said.

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