Serving Jersey City, Hudson County & all of New Jersey · Free Consultations · Se Habla Español
Serving Jersey City, Hudson County & all of New Jersey · Free Consultations · Se Habla Español
Robbery in Jersey City is charged under N.J.S.A. 2C:15-1: in the course of committing a theft, inflicting bodily injury, using force, or threatening or putting someone in fear of immediate bodily injury. It is a second-degree crime (5–10 years) and a first-degree crime (10–20 years) if the defendant attempts to kill, inflicts or attempts serious bodily injury, or is armed with or uses a deadly weapon. The No Early Release Act requires 85% of the sentence to be served.
2C:15-1 makes a person guilty of robbery if, in the course of committing a theft, he inflicts bodily injury or uses force upon another; threatens another with or purposely puts another in fear of immediate bodily injury; or commits or threatens immediately to commit a first- or second-degree crime. ‘In the course of committing a theft’ includes an attempt and immediate flight afterward, which is why a shoplifting that ends with a struggle at the door is charged as robbery rather than theft. The force required is minimal — a push, a snatch that meets resistance — and that is the line most Jersey City robbery cases are fought on.
Grading is severe. Robbery is second degree by default and first degree if the defendant attempts to kill, purposely inflicts or attempts to inflict serious bodily injury, or is armed with, uses or threatens the immediate use of a deadly weapon. Both grades fall under the No Early Release Act: 85% of the term must be served before parole, and a three-year period of parole supervision follows a second-degree sentence. If a firearm was involved, the Graves Act adds its own mandatory minimum. Carjacking under 2C:15-2 is a separate first-degree crime with a 10-year minimum.
Force or fear during a theft · 5–10 years · NERA
Deadly weapon or serious bodily injury · 10–20 years
Graves Act mandatory minimum on top of NERA
2C:15-2 · first degree · 10-year mandatory minimum
A struggle with loss prevention at the door
Graded the same as the completed offense
Show-up and photo-array cases · Henderson hearings
Family Part, with waiver to adult court possible at 15+
Third degree, no NERA · the key negotiation target
| Charge | Grade | Range | Parole ineligibility |
|---|---|---|---|
| Robbery | Second degree | 5–10 years | NERA: 85%, plus 3 years parole supervision |
| Robbery with a deadly weapon or serious bodily injury | First degree | 10–20 years | NERA: 85%, plus 5 years parole supervision |
| Robbery with a firearm | First or second degree | As above | Graves Act minimum in addition |
| Carjacking | First degree | 10–30 years | Minimum 10 years, NERA |
| Theft from the person (downgrade) | Third degree | 3–5 years | No NERA |
Street robberies in Jersey City — Journal Square, the PATH plazas, Ocean Avenue, the Heights — usually produce a radio description, a stop within minutes, and a show-up identification with the suspect in handcuffs beside a police car. New Jersey leads the country in regulating that procedure: under State v. Henderson, a defendant who shows suggestiveness gets a pretrial hearing, and the jury is instructed on the factors that make identifications unreliable. We litigate those hearings, and we obtain the surveillance from PATH, NJ Transit and city cameras that often contradicts the description.
The second front is the weapon. A first-degree charge frequently rests on a witness’s belief that the defendant had something in a pocket. Without a recovered weapon, that belief is contestable, and moving the case from first to second degree — or from robbery to theft from the person — is the difference between twenty years and a probationary sentence.
Second-degree robbery carries 5–10 years and first-degree robbery 10–20 years. Both fall under the No Early Release Act, so 85% of the sentence must be served before parole eligibility, followed by a period of parole supervision.
No. Theft becomes robbery when force is used, bodily injury is inflicted, or the victim is threatened or put in fear of immediate bodily injury during the theft or the immediate flight from it. Theft from the person, without force, is a third-degree crime with no NERA exposure.
Yes. Common reductions are from first to second degree where no weapon is recovered, and from robbery to theft from the person where the force element is weak. Both dramatically change the sentence, which is why the grading fight comes before any plea discussion.
A pretrial hearing on the reliability of an eyewitness identification, available in New Jersey when the defense shows some evidence of suggestiveness in how the identification was obtained. It can result in exclusion of the identification or a strong jury instruction on its weaknesses.
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Ibrahim & Ibrahim Law Firm
910 Bergen Ave, Suite 203
Jersey City, NJ 07306
Directions · a five-minute walk from Journal Square PATH; two blocks from the courthouse complex
