N.J. lawmaker wants to create domestic violence offender registry [View all]

By Matt Friedman/The Star-Ledger
on November 25, 2013

TRENTON — New Jersey residents who have abused their spouses and partners would be just as easy to look up as sex offenders under a bill about to be introduced by a state lawmaker.

Assemblyman Reed Gusciora (D-Mercer) wants to create a publicly accessible registry of those found to have committed domestic violence.

“It’s pretty dangerous to date a repeat offender and often times the person isn’t aware of the history,” Gusciora said. “You have instances where the person is very nice, and they’re dating, and when they’re living together that’s when the violence would happen. At least this would give some kind of warning if the person has a history of violence.”

Gusciora, who first mentioned the idea to New Jersey 101.5 FM, said he plans to introduce the legislation soon. The registry would be similar to the one that was established by Megan’s Law for sex offenders.

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