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WILDWOOD- Sen. Jim Cafiero was very familiar with family and women’s issues. Until recently he sat on the Women’s Issue Committee in the state Senate.
And it was Cafiero who introduced the stalking bill making it a crime to follow and harass someone in New Jersey.
“After seeing something on TV about the California legislation, I thought New Jersey should protect its citizens in the same way,” he said.
He was also behind the legislation that changed the statue of limitations in sexual abuse cases for civil and criminal matters.
“People who have had this (sexual abuse) happen to them don’t always make the connection. It takes time for them to heal so we changed the law extending the time for them to file suit or bring charges to two years after reasonable discovery,” Cafiero said.
Now he has introduced a bill (S-2479) that will make incest a crime of the third degree punishable by up to five years imprisonment, a fine of up to $15,000, or both.
“Maggie Henderson sent us a letter and brought this matter to our attention. She is a very admirable and courageous young woman,” commented Cafiero.
When he first read her letter he could hardly believe what he was reading. Like a lot of people he assumed incest was against the law. After doing some research he learned that until 1978 incest was against the law but after a revamping of New Jersey’s Criminal Code it was deleted from the code.
“But now we’re going to remedy that,” said Cafiero, who submitted his bill on June 28.
When the Senate reconvenes the bill will be assigned to committee, which is the start of the process. Cafiero, who is in an election contest with Democratic candidate Bill Hughes Jr., hopes he will be there to shepherd it through.
The senator said he has been following this newspaper’s series on New Jersey’s Division of Youth and Family Services (DYFS) and some of the stories have raised concern in the senator’s mind.
“We are all concerned about the protecting children. Children’s welfare is our top priority, but based on these news stories and the numerous complaints we receive in the office, maybe the way the institution is operating is not protecting children but disrupting families,” he said.
With an air of quiet concern the senator said, “Maybe it would be in order at this time to look into the manner in which DYFS is implementing the legislation and step in and set some standards on how DYFS takes actions to protect children and also to review the procedures. I am concerned about the whole due process issue, Parents should have at least as much protection as criminals.”
Cafiero also expressed concern about race and gender stereotyping that might be taking place and promised to investigate it.
“I think there is a way to do that and protect the children of New Jersey,” he concluded, adding he plans to discuss this with fellow legislators in the near future.
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