Deborah Poritz

To address racial disparities in the state's criminal justice system, a bipartisan commission chaired by former New Jersey Supreme Court Chief Justice Deborah Poritz has unanimously recommended a range of sentencing reforms.

Among the nine core recommendations by the Criminal Sentencing and Disposition Commission is the elimination of the mandatory minimum sentence for nonviolent drug and property crimes.

"The Commission's comprehensive recommendations are a critical step toward eliminating the racial disparities in our criminal justice system and ensuring a system that works better for all communities," Gov. Phil Murphy, who convened the commission last year after a decade of dormancy, said in a statement.

Supporters say the commission's recommendations are to further reduce New Jersey's prison population, which in recent years has begun to decline after increasing rapidly between the 1980s and 2000s. Despite this reduction, supporters say the state still has among  the highest disparities in incarceration rates between black and white offenders. The commission noted that people of color comprise 44% of New Jersey's population, but 76.5% of its prison population.

The commission's recommendations were released in a report and unanimously approved by a broad range of influencers in politics and law enforcement. State Attorney General Grewal, who served as a member of the commission, said the state's 21 county prosecutors also endorse the recommendations.

"I thought I had retired but I was wrong," Poritz said in the release on Thursday announcing the recommendations. "Every once in a while, there is an opportunity to work with a group of talented, dedicated people, to do something that will make a difference in people's lives."

In addition to its recommendation on eliminating some mandatory minimums, the committee also calls for any cost savings arising from reductions in the state's prison population to be reinvested in rehabilitation programs for inmates, as well as a retroactivity provision that would allow inmates currently serving sentences on such crimes to seek early release once they become eligible for parole, according to the announcement.

Read the commission's recommendations here: