New Jersey Code of Criminal Justice
(New Jersey Law Journal Books)

New Jersey's Best Selling Legal Book

Rave Reviews in:
The New York Times
NJ Cops
The Jersey Journal
The Gloucester County Times
The Star Ledger and So Many Others

New Jersey Code of Criminal Justice: A Practical Guide serves as a comprehensive and detailed work to assist those who are attempting to understand and apply New Jersey's criminal statutes. This codebook is written to decipher and explain the statutes for police officers charging under them, to educate trainees at the police academies and other students studying law, to interpret the statutes' meanings for lawyers and judges, and to generally make the criminal codebook a more interesting and educational tool.

This book contains, in complete verbatim text, every statute found in Title 2C, New Jersey's code of criminal justice. Preceding each statutory chapter, or group of chapters, is a fictional fact pattern. Following each statute that defines a crime or disorderly persons offense is a practical application section. These sections draw on the fact patterns to explain the statutes. Readers can utilize the fact patterns and practical applications to understand the language of the statutes and thereafter determine how to appropriately charge pursuant to them.

While New Jersey Code of Criminal Justice: A Practical Manual primarily tackles the substantive statutes defining crimes, disorderly persons offenses and petty disorderly persons offenses, it also explains many of the other related statutes, such as defenses and general provisions. Statutory language defining the offenses, the elements pertaining to them and the differences among the offenses are addressed in detail. In sum total, every statute that defines a crime, disorderly persons offense and petty disorderly persons offense has a practical application section that explains it. Several other statutes are afforded practical application sections as well. Sentencing and administrative statutes are not the focus of this book, and practical application sections are not provided for these statutes.

This codebook is practical and necessary to police officers who are presented daily with real life criminal circumstances and need to know how to correctly charge pursuant to each peculiar and unique situation. It is equally important for trainees at the academies who must learn the criminal laws of New Jersey and be able to apply them once they graduate and hit the streets. Similarly, it is a valuable tool for other students studying law, and even for lawyers and judges who are looking for mechanisms to better understand the often confusing and convoluted statutory language.