SUPERIOR COURT OF NEW JERSEY
APPELLATE DIVISION
A-2759-95T1
IN THE MATTER OF REGISTRANT
E.D.: APPLICATION FOR JUDICIAL
REVIEW OF NOTIFICATION AND TIER
DESIGNATION.See footnote 1
_________________________________________________________________
Argued January 30, 1996 - Decided February 9,
1996
Before Judges Shebell, Long, and Muir, Jr.
On appeal from the Superior Court, Law
Division.
The opinion of the court was delivered by
MUIR, JR., J.A.D.
This appeal emanates from the implementation of the
Registration and Community Notification Laws (RCNL), N.J.S.A. 2C:7-1 to -11, and the judicial review process required by Doe v.
Poritz,
142 N.J. 1 (1995).
Registrant E.D., a convicted sex offender, appeals from an
order that sustained the prosecutor's Tier Three risk of reoffense
classification (highest risk of reoffense) and extent of community
notification. The appeal asserts only that the trial court lacked
jurisdiction under the RCNL to enter the order. Although he
initially registered under the RCNL based on his New Jersey
residence and although currently employed in New Jersey, E.D.
argues the RCNL do not afford jurisdiction over him because he
moved to Pennsylvania prior to the prosecutor's RCNL-required
notice of proposed Tier classification and community notification.
We conclude the RCNL apply and accordingly affirm.
The relevant facts are undisputed. E.D. was released on
June 1, 1993, from the New Jersey Adult Diagnostic and Treatment
Center (ADTC) after serving the maximum term for two sexual abuse
offenses committed on two girls ages 7 and 8. The sentence to the
ADTC required a finding the offenses reflected a repetitive,
compulsive behavioral pattern. See N.J.S.A. 2C:47-1 to -8. E.D.'s
record at the time of his incarceration discloses prior charges for
lewdness and for public indecency in New York, Connecticut, and New
Jersey.
Upon release, E.D. moved to a New Jersey community. There he
registered as required by the RCNL. Shortly thereafter, he moved
to Pennsylvania but continues to work at a gas station in New
Jersey. On July 26, 1995, a New Jersey municipal court found him
guilty of the disorderly persons offense of lewdness. E.D.
received a 90-day jail term.
On November 29, 1995, the prosecutor initiated the RCNL Tier
classification and community notification process. The trial court
rejected E.D.'s lack of jurisdiction argument. This appeal ensued.
The RCNL are "clearly and totally remedial in purpose." Doe
v. Poritz, supra, 142 N.J. at 73. "Where the Legislature's intent
is remedial, a court should construe a statute liberally." Young
v. Schering Corp.,
141 N.J. 16, 25 (1995). To that aim, statutes
should be read "in a way that advances `the sense and meaning
fairly deductible from the context.'" State v. Gonzalez,
142 N.J. 618, 627-28 (1995) (quoting Lesniak v. Budzash,
133 N.J. 1, 14
(1993)). Common sense then projects that a court is not precluded
from interpreting a statute to apply in circumstances not
specifically considered by the Legislature so long as those
circumstances are within the ambit of the legislative purpose. As
we recently stated:
Generally, a remedial statute will be
construed to include cases within its spirit
or reason, although technically outside its
letter, when necessary to effectuate the
legislative intent. Where the drafters of a
statute did not consider or contemplate a
specific situation, a court should interpret
the enactment consonant with the probable
intent of the drafters, had the situation at
hand been anticipated. In such a situation,
the interpreting court should not rely on
"literalisms, technicisms or the so-called
formal rules of interpretation." Rather, the
court should rely on the breadth of the
objectives of the legislation and the common
sense of the situation, in order to further
the legislative purpose.
[City of Newark v. Township of Hardyston,
285 N.J. Super. 385, 394 (App. Div. 1995)
(citations omitted).]
Applying these rules, we conclude the RCNL apply to the
circumstances here.
Designed to afford a means for protecting New Jersey citizens,
particularly children, from the almost intractable recidivism of
repetitive, compulsive sex offenders, the RCNL prescribe a process
that allows law enforcement officials to identify convicted sex
offenders and alert the public about them. See N.J.S.A. 2C:7-1 to
-11; Doe v. Poritz, supra, 142 N.J. at 12, 40. The process
mandates a convicted sex offender register with the chief law
enforcement officer of the municipality in which the offender
resides. N.J.S.A. 2C:7-2c(2), (3). To that extent, the RCNL
project New Jersey residency as a basis for their applicability.
The RCNL's principal objective, however, is notification to
those threatened by the risk of reoffense by an intractable
recidivist like E.D. Jurisdiction, and hence notification, is
controlled not by continued residency but by the more expansive
concept of the persons the registrant is likely to continue to
encounter. See N.J.S.A. 2C:7-8c. "Likely to encounter"
encompasses locations the registrant visits or can be presumed to
visit on a regular basis. Attorney General's Guidelines, Section
V. Definitions. "Likely to encounter" environs, then, encompass
not only the geographic areas around a registrant's residency but
also the geographic areas around a registrant's work place. See
Doe v. Poritz, supra, 142 N.J. at 37; In re Registrant E.A.,
285 N.J. Super. 554, 557 (App. Div. 1995). Consequently, although the
Legislature did not identify a registrant's New Jersey work place
as a specific basis for requiring registration under the
circumstances here, which include the initial registration, we
conclude the unmistakable legislative purpose is that the RCNL
apply requiring the community notification approved by the trial
court in the order under appeal.
Our holding is fostered by a provision of the RCNL. N.J.S.A.
2C:7-5d states:
Nothing in this section shall be
construed to prevent law enforcement officers
from notifying members of the public exposed
to danger of any persons that pose a danger
under circumstances that are not enumerated in
this act.
The provision reflects the breadth of the objectives of the RCNL.
That breadth extends to the circumstances of this case.
The temporary stay of notification entered on January 26,
1996, is hereby vacated.
The order under appeal is affirmed.
Footnote: 1The initials used in the caption are fictitious. This court has, for the purpose of confidentiality, refrained from identifying the names of those involved as well as the attorneys, Municipality, and County in question.