Measure Seeks to Ban Gay Panic Defense in NJ Courts
Measure Seeks to Ban Gay Panic Defense in NJ Courts
New Jersey Law Journal
December 2, 2019
“A bill that would prohibit the use of the so-called gay panic defense in criminal cases, where a defendant claims provocation by sudden knowledge of the victim’s sexual orientation or gender, is working its way through the New Jersey Legislature,” according to this New Jersey Law Journal article.
The article later stated, “[Sills Cummis Member] Tom Prol, the first openly gay president of the New Jersey State Bar Association and a founding and current executive board member of Asbury Park-based LGBTQ rights organization Garden State Equality, said the bill was long overdue in prohibiting a common legal strategy in criminal cases that amounts to discrimination.
“Prol, who is also a member of the American Bar Association’s governing body, was the sole person to testify in support of the legislation before the Assembly Judiciary Committee on Nov. 18. No group or person testified against the bill.”
