Degrees of Crimes and Offenses
New Jersey Statutes Annotated 2C:43-1: Degrees of Crimes
New Jersey Statutes Annotated 2C:1-4: Classes of offenses
Crimes defined by the New Jersey Criminal Code are classified, for the purpose of sentencing, into four degrees:
- Crimes of the first degree;
- Crimes of the second degree;
- Crimes of the third degree; and
- Crimes of the fourth degree.
The New Jersey Criminal Code also defines offenses, classified as:
- Disorderly persons offenses; and
- Petty disorderly persons offenses.
These are petty offenses, not crimes within the meaning of the State Constitution. They have the following difference from crimes:
- No right to indictment by a grand jury;
- No right to trial by jury;
- Conviction does not create any disability or legal disadvantage based on conviction of a crime.
Any offense declared to be a crime, without specifying a degree, is a fourth degree crime.
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