The state Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee unanimously voted to advance Bill S607 -- modifying what is known as "Joan's Law" — now headed to the Senate.
The Assembly already unanimously approved it on Feb. 15.
The move happened nearly seven years after D'Alessandro set out to change the New Jersey child-rape statute named in memory of her 7-year-old daughter, Joan, who was kidnapped, raped and murdered by a neighbor while selling Girl Scout Cookies in 1973.
The bill bars parole ever for anyone who murders someone under 18 in the commission of a sex crime. The victim's age in the current law is 14.
With the Legislature's expected full blessing, the measure would go to Gov. Christie to be signed into law.
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