Morris Prosecutor to Serve on State Criminal Sentencing Commission

Published on February 16, 2018

Prosecutor Fredric M. Knapp to Serve on Criminal Sentencing and Disposition Commission

As the President of the County Prosecutors Association of New Jersey, Morris County Prosecutor Fredric M. Knapp will be one of 13 members of the the New Jersey Criminal Justice Sentencing and Disposition Commission. which is being reconvened by Gov. Phil Murphy.

(JPG, 270KB) (l/r) Detective Patrick LaGuerre, Prosecutor Fredric M. Knapp, and Governor Phil Murphy

Prosecutor Knapp will be joined by representatives of the State Bar Association, Public Defender's Office, Department of Corrections and the State Parole Board, among others, on the reconvened commission.

The Criminal Justice Sentencing and Disposition Commission was established by statute in 2004 on a temporary basis, and became permanent in June, 2006 when a report was issued.

On Feb. 11, Gov. Murphy held a press conference at the Messiah Baptist Church in East Orange to announce that he was going to reconvene the New Jersey Criminal Justice Sentencing and Disposition Commission. Prosecutor Knapp and Prosecutor's Office Detective Patrick LaGuerre, formerly a member of the East Orange Police Department, were in attendance.

The purpose of the commission is to consider correctional resources, including the capacities of state and local correctional facilities, in promulgating statewide criminal sentencing policies; examine past sentencing practices; establish a list of sentencing factors to guide or limit judges in assessing sentences for individual offenders; and seek to establish uniform sentences throughout the state.

The commission includes the state Attorney General and four members of the Legislature. For his two gubernatorial choices, Gov. Murphy named Deborah Poritz, former Chief Justice of the New Jersey Supreme Court, and Jiles Ship, who is past President of NOBLE, or The National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives, and also a former police officer in Edison and member of the New Jersey Police Training Commission.

Prosecutor Knapp stated that he is honored to serve on the commission and looks forward to this opportunity. No date has yet been scheduled for the commission to meet.

Inquiries should be directed to Public Information Officer Peter DiGennaro at pressinquiry@co.morris.nj.us or 973-829-8159.