New Jersey pleas
New Jersey does not have felonies or misdemeanors. It has crimes of the first through fourth degree, disorderly persons offenses and petty disorderly persons offenses, and the immigration statute does not use any of those words either. What matters is the maximum each carries, the sentence imposed, and whether the disposition is a conviction under the federal definition. A disorderly persons offense is a conviction. A pretrial intervention dismissal with no plea is not. A fourth-degree crime carries up to 18 months, which is why the number of days in a fourth-degree plea is negotiated to the day.
Current as of October 2026. We re-check this page regularly and after any rule change.
This page describes New Jersey's grading system, its dispositions, and the petition that undoes a plea. It does not say which New Jersey offenses are crimes involving moral turpitude, aggravated felonies or crimes of violence. Those are questions about the elements of each section, decided under the categorical approach in the Third Circuit, so we read your section with you. The federal grounds a New Jersey plea is measured against are on the crimes and removal page.
The degree system
N.J.S.A. 2C:1-4 divides offenses into crimes, disorderly persons offenses and petty disorderly persons offenses. Crimes are graded first through fourth degree. There are no felonies and no misdemeanors, and a New Jersey judgment will not use either word.
| Grade | Maximum sentence | Where prosecuted | Authority |
|---|---|---|---|
| Petty disorderly persons offense | 30 days | Municipal court | N.J.S.A. 2C:43-8 |
| Disorderly persons offense | 6 months | Municipal court | N.J.S.A. 2C:43-8 |
| Fourth-degree crime | 18 months | Superior Court | N.J.S.A. 2C:43-6(a) |
| Third-degree crime | 3 to 5 years | Superior Court | N.J.S.A. 2C:43-6(a) |
| Second- and first-degree crimes | Longer ranges; ask us for the exact term | Superior Court | N.J.S.A. 2C:43-6(a) |
Read the table against the three questions the immigration statute asks of a sentence. What was the maximum? A disorderly persons offense cannot carry more than six months, and a fourth-degree crime can carry more than a year. What was imposed? That is the plea. Was the term at least one year? Only a crime can reach it.
Two consequences follow on the text of the statutes. Both are readings of the text, not settled precedent. A disorderly persons offense has a maximum that does not exceed one year and cannot carry a sentence above six months, so a single one that is a crime involving moral turpitude satisfies both prongs of the petty offense exception in INA 212(a)(2)(A)(ii)(II), provided it is the only one. And because a sentence of one year cannot be imposed for a disorderly persons offense, the single-CIMT deportability ground in INA 237(a)(2)(A)(i), which requires that a sentence of one year or longer "may be imposed," is not met by one. A fourth-degree crime meets that ground on the maximum alone.
Disorderly persons offenses are convictions
The immigration definition in INA 101(a)(48)(A) is a formal judgment of guilt, or a plea or finding of guilt plus a penalty or restraint on liberty ordered by the judge. Under Matter of Eslamizar, 23 I&N Dec. 684 (BIA 2004), the proceeding has to be criminal in nature, with proof beyond a reasonable doubt, for its result to count. A disorderly persons offense is prosecuted in municipal court, is criminal in nature, and requires proof beyond a reasonable doubt. It meets the test, and it is treated as a conviction for immigration purposes. We have not found a published New Jersey decision on this point, so take that as how we read the test, not as a court's holding. The test itself is not in doubt.
The same applies to a petty disorderly persons offense. The 30-day maximum keeps it well inside the petty offense exception on the sentence side, but a plea to one is still a plea, and the allocution is still an admission on the record. The conviction page has the full definition.
Pretrial intervention and the conditional discharge
Two New Jersey dispositions can end a case without a conviction, and both can also end it with one. Pretrial intervention under N.J.S.A. 2C:43-12 and the conditional discharge for certain drug offenses under N.J.S.A. 2C:36A-1 may be granted without a guilty plea. Where no plea and no finding of guilt is entered, nothing on the first half of the 101(a)(48)(A) definition happened, and the dismissal at the end leaves no conviction. Where admission to the program required a guilty plea, the plea plus the conditions the court imposes is a conviction the day the plea is entered, and the later dismissal is a rehabilitative act that, under Matter of Roldan-Santoyo, 22 I&N Dec. 512 (BIA 1999), does not eliminate it.
The plea is the difference
Two people can complete the same program and walk out with different immigration records. Before agreeing to PTI or a conditional discharge, the question to ask is exact: will I be required to plead guilty, or to admit facts, as a condition of admission? If the answer is no, the disposition is outside the definition. If the answer is yes, it is inside it, and the factual basis you give is an admission on top. The order of admission will say which. Keep it.
Why a fourth-degree plea is negotiated to the day
A fourth-degree crime carries up to 18 months. That is the lowest grade in New Jersey at which a sentence of one year or more can be imposed, and one year is the threshold in the aggravated felony entries for theft and receipt of stolen property, crimes of violence, forgery and obstruction, INA 101(a)(43)(F), (G), (R) and (S). Under INA 101(a)(48)(B) a suspended sentence counts in full. A fourth-degree theft plea with a sentence of one year, suspended, is a theft aggravated felony if the offense matches the generic definition; the same plea with a sentence of 364 days is not, whatever the elements. The 364-day page explains how the request is made.
The day matters twice more. For an admitted person with a single crime involving moral turpitude, INA 236(c)(1)(C) makes detention mandatory only where the sentence was at least one year; 364 days keeps the bond hearing. And a fourth-degree crime, unlike a disorderly persons offense, satisfies the "may be imposed" prong of the single-CIMT deportability ground on its maximum alone, so for a person admitted within the last five years the choice between a fourth-degree plea and a disorderly persons plea to a CIMT can be the choice between deportable and not. Whether the offense is a CIMT is the categorical question, and we answer that from your section, not in general.
What to ask us
Ask us about New Jersey's plea form and the advice a New Jersey judge gives about immigration consequences before accepting a plea. The advice your own lawyer owes you is federal and does not depend on the state: under Padilla v. Kentucky, 559 U.S. 356 (2010), defense counsel must advise a noncitizen client of the immigration consequences of a plea, and the Padilla page covers what that requires.
Undoing a New Jersey plea: Rule 3:22
Post-conviction relief in New Jersey is by petition under Rule 3:22. Under Rule 3:22-12(a)(1), the petition is generally due within five years of the judgment, with an exception where the delay was due to excusable neglect and enforcing the bar would result in a reasonable probability of injustice. Five years is longer than Florida's two under Rule 3.850 and shorter than New York's no-deadline rule under CPL 440.10, and the exception is argued, not assumed. A person who learns of the immigration consequence of a plea from a Notice to Appear six years later is in the exception or out of court.
The ground most often available to a noncitizen is a plea entered without the advice Padilla requires. Under Chaidez v. United States, 568 U.S. 342 (2013), that ground does not reach a conviction that became final before March 31, 2010. And under Matter of Pickering, 23 I&N Dec. 621 (BIA 2003), a vacatur counts for immigration purposes only if it rests on a substantive or procedural defect in the original case; the order should say so. The vacating a plea page covers what has to be proved, and the after a plea section explains how the petition and the immigration case run on one calendar.
The firm's criminal defense practice litigates Rule 3:22 petitions in the New Jersey courts where its attorneys are admitted, and negotiates pleas there, working from the same file as the immigration lawyers. The category-by-category negotiating points are on the plea strategy pages.
The firm's criminal defense practice in New Jersey and New York, including plea negotiation and post-conviction petitions for noncitizen clients.
The full firm at usherlegal.com →
immigrationtrial.comUsing a vacatur in a pending removal case and after an order: motions to terminate, motions to reopen, continuances and stays.
Post-conviction relief in removal proceedings →
Read next: the 364-day sentence, deferred and withheld adjudication, the petty offense exception, or vacating a plea.
Common questions
Is a disorderly persons offense a conviction for immigration purposes?
It is treated as one. New Jersey does not call a disorderly persons offense a crime, and it is prosecuted in municipal court, but the immigration definition in INA 101(a)(48)(A) asks whether a court entered a judgment of guilt, or accepted a plea and imposed a penalty, in a proceeding that is criminal in nature with proof beyond a reasonable doubt. A disorderly persons prosecution meets that test. The label the state uses does not change the answer. Whether the offense is then a ground of removal depends on its elements.
I completed pretrial intervention. Do I have a conviction?
It depends on whether you pleaded guilty to get in. Pretrial intervention under N.J.S.A. 2C:43-12 and the conditional discharge under 2C:36A-1 may be granted without a guilty plea, except that under N.J.S.A. 2C:43-12(g)(3) a defendant charged with a first- or second-degree crime, any crime where there is a prior first- or second-degree conviction, or a domestic violence offense is admitted only on a guilty plea held inactive during supervisory treatment, which is a conviction risk under INA 101(a)(48)(A), and where no plea or finding of guilt was entered there is no conviction under INA 101(a)(48)(A), because nothing on the first half of that definition happened. Where a plea was entered and the court imposed conditions, both halves of the definition are met and the later dismissal does not undo it. The court file shows which one you have.
Why does 364 days matter in a fourth-degree case?
A fourth-degree crime carries up to 18 months under N.J.S.A. 2C:43-6(a), so a sentence of one year or more is available. Several aggravated felony entries, including theft, crimes of violence, forgery and obstruction, turn on a term of imprisonment of at least one year, and a suspended sentence counts in full. A fourth-degree plea with a sentence of 364 days or less stays under that threshold; the same plea with a sentence of one year does not. For an admitted person with a single crime involving moral turpitude, a sentence under one year also keeps the offense outside the mandatory detention paragraph in INA 236(c)(1)(C).
How long do I have to challenge a New Jersey plea?
Generally five years from the judgment. Post-conviction relief is by petition under Rule 3:22, and Rule 3:22-12(a)(1) sets a five-year limit with an exception for excusable neglect where enforcing the bar would result in a reasonable probability of injustice. The Padilla ground is not available for a conviction that became final before March 31, 2010, under Chaidez v. United States.
Tell us about the charge before you take the plea. Not after.
You get a free conversation with an immigration attorney, in your language. We speak English, Russian, Spanish and Uzbek in-house, and we bring in a live interpreter for anything else. We will read the charge against the immigration statute, tell you what the offered plea does to your status and to every form of relief, and tell you what to ask your criminal lawyer to negotiate instead. If the plea has already been entered, we will tell you what can still be done.