Defending NJ 2C:43-7.2. No Early Release Act (NERA).
What the 85% Rule Means for Your Case
Most people sentenced to prison in New Jersey serve a fraction of the number the judge says out loud. Good behavior credits, work credits, and standard parole eligibility do most of the work.
The No Early Release Act shuts all of that off.
If you are convicted of a covered first- or second-degree crime, the judge must order you to serve 85% of the sentence before you can even be considered for parole. Then you serve a fixed term of parole supervision after you get out.
Villani & DeLuca, P.C. has defended violent crime cases in Ocean and Monmouth County for more than 30 years, and our team includes a former municipal prosecutor. Call the number above for a free consultation or read more about violent crime defense in New Jersey.
What N.J.S.A. 2C:43-7.2 Says
NJ Statute: 2C:43-7.2. Sentence of imprisonment for certain crimes; mandatory minimum term.
a. A court imposing a sentence of incarceration for a crime of the first or second degree enumerated in subsection d. of this section shall fix a minimum term of 85% of the sentence imposed, during which the defendant shall not be eligible for parole.
b. The minimum term required by subsection a. of this section shall be fixed as a part of every sentence of incarceration imposed upon every conviction of a crime enumerated in subsection d. of this section, whether the sentence of incarceration is determined pursuant to N.J.S.2C:43-6, N.J.S.2C:43-7, N.J.S.2C:11-3, or any other provision of law, and shall be calculated based upon the sentence of incarceration actually imposed. The provisions of subsection a. of this section shall not be construed 0or applied to reduce the time that must be served before eligibility for parole by an inmate sentenced to a mandatory minimum period of incarceration. Solely for the purpose of calculating the minimum term of parole ineligibility pursuant to subsection a. of this section, a sentence of life imprisonment shall be deemed to be 75 years.
Two Conditions, Both Required
NERA is not triggered by how violent the facts sound. It is triggered by two things at once.
The crime has to be on the list in subsection d. That list includes murder, aggravated manslaughter and manslaughter, vehicular homicide, aggravated assault under subsection b. of 2C:12-1, disarming a law enforcement officer, kidnapping, aggravated sexual assault, sexual assault (N.J.S.A. 2C:14-2), robbery, carjacking, aggravated arson, burglary, extortion, booby traps in drug facilities, strict liability for drug induced deaths, terrorism, chemical or biological weapons offenses, first-degree racketeering, firearms trafficking, causing or permitting a child to engage in a prohibited sexual act under 2C:24-4(b)(3), home invasion burglary, and residential burglary. Attempts and conspiracies to commit those crimes count too.
The conviction has to be first or second degree. This is the piece people miss. Subsection a. says "a crime of the first or second degree enumerated in subsection d." Both halves have to be true. A third-degree conviction is not a NERA case even when the statute it falls under appears on the list.
That distinction decides real cases. Aggravated assault (N.J.S.A. 2C:12-1b) is on the NERA list as a whole subsection, but it contains paragraphs graded first, second, third, and fourth degree. Only the first- and second-degree paragraphs carry NERA.
Doing the Math
A ten-year sentence means eight years and six months in custody before parole eligibility. Not eight and a half years minus credits. Eight and a half years.
A five-year sentence means four years and three months.
No amount of institutional work, education, or good conduct moves that number. That is the point of the statute, and it is why a plea offer in a NERA case has to be weighed differently than any other offer.
The Parole Tail Nobody Warns You About
The sentence does not end when the prison term does. Subsection c. adds a mandatory term of parole supervision that starts the day you are released:
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First-degree conviction: five years of parole supervision.
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Second-degree conviction: three years of parole supervision.
During that period you are in the community but in the legal custody of the Commissioner of the Department of Corrections, supervised by the State Parole Board as if on parole. Violate a condition and you can be returned to state prison to serve the balance.
What the State Has to Prove
NERA does not have its own elements. It attaches to the underlying conviction. So the State has to prove every element of the qualifying first- or second-degree crime beyond a reasonable doubt, and the degree has to hold.
That is where the defense work happens. If the prosecutor cannot establish serious bodily injury, or that a weapon was involved, or whichever element carries the grading, the degree drops. When the degree drops below second, NERA falls away with it.
Keeping NERA Out of the Case
NERA is all or nothing. It applies fully or not at all, based on the final charge of conviction. So the strategy is almost always to change the charge rather than argue about the sentence.
Negotiate the degree down. Amending a second-degree aggravated assault to a third-degree offense removes NERA entirely. The same logic applies across the list. A plea that looks similar on paper can differ by years.
Try the case. Self-defense, defense of others, and lack of the required intent are complete defenses. An acquittal or a conviction on a lesser included offense both take NERA off the table.
Attack the grading element. Many of these charges rise or fall on one fact. Whether the injury was serious. Whether an object qualified as a deadly weapon. Whether the entry was into a dwelling. Litigating that one fact is often worth more than everything else in the file.
Working with an experienced New Jersey criminal defense lawyer early gives you the most room to work on the charge itself, which is where NERA is won or lost.
Start Before the Indictment
Whether NERA applies, and whether the underlying charge can be reduced, is usually the single most important question in a serious violent case. It is a question best answered before a grand jury returns an indictment, not after.
Call Villani & DeLuca at (732) 709-7757 for a free consultation, 24 hours a day. For related charges and sentencing rules, see our New Jersey Statutes library.
AKA: NJ NERA Law, 85% Rule NJ, Violation 2C:43-7.2, Offense 2C:43-7.2
Disclaimer: A copy of this statute has been provided for your information. This wording was current from the NJ website lis.njleg.state.nj.us as of July 2026.