2C:1-001 Short Title; Rules of Construction

 2C:1-1.  Short title;  rules of construction

    a.  This Title shall be known and may be cited as the  "New Jersey Code of Criminal Justice."

    b.  Except as provided in subsections c. and d. of this section, the code does not apply to offenses committed prior to its effective date and prosecutions and dispositions for such offenses shall be governed by the prior law, which is continued in effect for that purpose, as if this code were not in  force.  For the purposes of this section, an offense was committed after the  effective date of the code if any of the elements of the offenses occurred  subsequent thereto.

    c.  In any case pending on or initiated after the effective date of the code  involving an offense committed prior to such date:

    (1) The procedural provisions of the code shall govern, insofar as they are  justly applicable and their application does not introduce confusion or delay;

    (2) The court, with the consent of the defendant, may impose sentence under  the provisions of the code applicable to the offense and the offender.

    (3) The court shall, if the offense committed is no longer an offense under  the provisions of the code, dismiss such prosecution.

    d.  (1) The provisions of the code governing the treatment and the release or discharge of prisoners, probationers and parolees shall apply to persons under sentence for offenses committed prior to the effective date of the code, except that the minimum or maximum period of their detention or supervision shall in no case be increased.

    (2) Any person who is under sentence of imprisonment on the effective date of the code for an offense committed prior to the effective date which has been  eliminated by the code or who has been sentenced to a maximum term of imprisonment for an offense committed prior to the effective date which exceeds  the maximum established by the code for such an offense and who, on said  effective date, has not had his sentence suspended or been paroled or discharged, may move to have his sentence reviewed by the sentencing court and the court may impose a new sentence, for good cause shown as though the person had been convicted under the code, except that no period of detention or supervision shall be increased as a result of such resentencing.

    e.  The provisions of the code not inconsistent with those of prior laws shall be construed as a continuation of such laws.

    f.  The classification and arrangement of the several sections of the code have been made for the purpose of convenience, reference and orderly arrangement, and therefore no implication or presumption of a legislative construction is to be drawn therefrom.

    g.  In the construction of the code, or any part thereof, no outline or analysis of the contents of said title or of any subtitle, chapter, article or section, no cross-reference or cross-reference note and no headnote or source note to any section shall be deemed to be a part of the code.

    h.  If said title or any subtitle, chapter, article or section of the code,  or any provision thereof, shall be declared to be unconstitutional, invalid or  inoperative in whole or in part, by a court of competent jurisdiction, such  title, subtitle, chapter, article, section or provision shall, to the extent  that it is not unconstitutional, invalid or inoperative, be enforced and  effectuated, and no such determination shall be deemed to invalidate or make  ineffectual the remaining provisions of the title, or of any subtitle, chapter,  article or section of the code.

     L.1978, c. 95, s. 2C:1-1, eff. Sept. 1, 1979.  Amended by L.1979, c. 178, s. 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1979.