BY BOB HOLT

NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM

After a Millburn Township woman was brutally beaten in her own home back in June, New Jersey has found the first step in addressing the problem.

Bi-partisan legislation that would turn home invasion into a first-degree offense has gone through the New Jersey Assembly by a unanimous 75-0 vote.

FOX 13 News reported that after breaking into the Millburn home, the man punched and kicked the woman, and threw her down a flight of stairs in front of her three-year old daughter.

Changes are coming with the new legislation. If home invasions become a first-degree crime, those found guilty will then face prison terms of between 10 and 30 years, according to lehighvalleylive.com. And violators will be required to serve at least 85 percent of the sentence they receive before coming up for parole, under the No Early Release Act.

Livingston Patch reported that burglary would move from a third to a second-degree crime if an individual were in the home when the intruder enters under the bill. Penalties for second-degree offenses can be jail sentences of 5 to 10 years, or a possible $150,000 fine, or both.

In the Millburn Township incident, phillyburbs.com reports that 42-year old Shawn Custis of East Orange received charges of attempted murder, robbery, burglary and child endangerment, and is being held on $750,000 bail.

The legislation now heads for the state Senate.