Op-Ed: Why is NJ sticking with a broken sentencing system?

By: Joseph Krakora

Outlets: NJ Spotlight

Published: August 3, 2026

Words: 824

Last Updated: 13 hours, 3 minutes ago

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New Jersey’s sentencing laws are broken and badly in need of reform. This is a function of the “three-strikes” and mandatory minimum sentences eliminating and restricting parole that were enacted in the 1980s and 1990s during the war on drugs and crime.

Former Gov. Phil Murphy’s clemency initiative, in the last 18 months of his second term, highlighted how these laws resulted in draconian sentences that bear no resemblance to the purposes for which …

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