A2846

New Jersey A2846 creates a penalty for failing to cooperate with child abuse investigations and upgrades penalties for failure to report child abuse.

New Jersey A2846 amends current law to establish a penalty for knowingly failing to cooperate with an investigation of child abuse or neglect conducted by the Division of Child Protection and Permanency or any other entity in the Department of Children and Families. Additionally, the bill upgrades the penalty for failure to report an act of sexual abuse against a child from a crime of the fourth degree to a crime of the third degree. A crime of the third degree is punishable by incarceration for a term of between three and five years, a fine of up to $15,000, or both.