New Jersey § 2c:2-2

§ 2c:2-2.

a. Minimum requirements of culpability. Except as provided in subsection c.(3) of this section, a person is not guilty of an offense unless he acted purposely,

knowingly, recklessly or negligently, as the law may require, with respect to each

material element of the offense. b. Kinds of culpability defined. (1) Purposely. A person acts purposely with respect to the nature of his conduct or a result thereof

if it is his conscious object to engage in conduct of that nature or to cause such

a result. A person acts purposely with respect to attendant circumstances if he is aware of

the existence of such circumstances or he believes or hopes that they exist. “ With purpose, ” “ designed, ” “ with design ” or equivalent terms have the same meaning. (2) Knowingly. A person acts knowingly with respect to the nature of his conduct or the attendant

circumstances if he is aware that his conduct is of that nature, or that such circumstances

exist, or he is aware of a high probability of their existence. A person acts knowingly with respect to a result of his conduct if he is aware that

it is practically certain that his conduct will cause such a result. “Knowing,” “ with knowledge ” or equivalent terms have the same meaning. (3) Recklessly. A person acts recklessly with respect to a material element of an offense when he

consciously disregards a substantial and unjustifiable risk that the material element

exists or will result from his conduct. The risk must be of such a nature and degree that, considering the nature and purpose

of the actor's conduct and the circumstances known to him, its disregard involves

a gross deviation from the standard of conduct that a reasonable person would observe

in the actor's situation. “ Recklessness, ” “ with recklessness ” or equivalent terms have the same meaning. (4) Negligently. A person acts negligently with respect to a material element of an offense when

he should be aware of a substantial and unjustifiable risk that the material element

exists or will result from his conduct. The risk must be of such a nature and degree that the actor's failure to perceive

it, considering the nature and purpose of his conduct and the circumstances known

to him, involves a gross deviation from the standard of care that a reasonable person

would observe in the actor's situation. “ Negligently ” or “ negligence ” when used in this code, shall refer to the standard set forth in this section and

not to the standards applied in civil cases. c. Construction of statutes with respect to culpability requirements. (1) Prescribed culpability requirement applies to all material elements. When the law defining an offense prescribes the kind of culpability that is sufficient

for the commission of an offense, without distinguishing among the material elements

thereof, such provision shall apply to all the material elements of the offense, unless

a contrary purpose plainly appears. (2) Substitutes for kinds of culpability. When the law provides that a particular kind of culpability suffices to establish

an element of an offense such element is also established if a person acts with higher

kind of culpability. (3) Construction of statutes not stating culpability requirement. Although no culpable mental state is expressly designated in a statute defining

an offense, a culpable mental state may nevertheless be required for the commission

of such offense, or with respect to some or all of the material elements thereof,

if the proscribed conduct necessarily involves such culpable mental state. A statute defining a crime, unless clearly indicating a legislative intent to impose

strict liability, should be construed as defining a crime with the culpability defined

in paragraph b.(2) of this section. This provision applies to offenses defined both within and outside of this code. d. Culpability as to illegality of conduct. Neither knowledge nor recklessness nor negligence as to whether conduct constitutes

an offense or as to the existence, meaning or application of the law determining the

elements of an offense is an element of such offense, unless the definition of the

offense or the code so provides. e. Culpability as determinant of grade of offense. When the grade or degree of an offense depends on whether the offense is committed

purposely, knowingly, recklessly or criminally negligently, its grade or degree shall

be the lowest for which the determinative kind of culpability is established with

respect to any material element of the offense.