IN THE MATTER OF REGISTRANT A.D./IN THE MATTER OF REGISTRANT J.B./ IN THE MATTER OF REGISTRANT C.M.
A-5671-13T1/ A-2312-14T1/ A-2313-14T1 (CONSOLIDATED)
Sex offenders may apply to the court under N.J.S.A. 2C:7-2(f) to terminate their registration obligations if, among other requirements, they "ha[ve] not committed an offense within 15 years following conviction or release . . . and [are] not likely to pose a threat to the safety of others." Appellants' applications were denied because each appellant had committed an offense – though not a sex offense – within the fifteen year period. These appeals require us to decide whether the term "offense" in N.J.S.A. 2C:7-2(f) means "a crime, a disorderly
persons offense or a petty disorderly persons offense unless a particular subsection in the code is intended to apply to less than all three" - the definition given in the general definitional subsection of the Criminal Code; or a "sex offense" as defined in N.J.S.A. 2C:7-2(b), a provision of Megan's Law. Concluding that N.J.S.A. 2C:7-2(f) is unambiguous, we hold that the term offense means what the Code's general definitional subsection defines it to mean. Accordingly, we affirm the trial courts' orders.
