New Jersey Panel Urges End to Death Penalty

[cal04]

Amid growing unease about capital punishment and a state moratorium on executions, a legislative commission recommended today that New Jersey become the first state in more than 35 years to abolish the death penalty.

With just one of its 13 members dissenting, the commission said there was “no compelling evidence” that the death penalty served a legitimate purpose and increasing evidence that it “is inconsistent with evolving standards of decency.” The panel recommended replacing capital punishment with the sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole.

The political climate in Trenton appears to be receptive. Gov. Jon S. Corzine said that “as someone who has long opposed the death penalty, I look forward to working with the Legislature” to carry out the recommendations.

Legislative leaders said there was ample support for repealing the law, and Senate President Richard J. Codey said he expected to call for a vote. Assembly Speaker Joseph J. Roberts, while supporting the committee’s findings, stopped short of calling for a vote, leaving the possibility that repeal legislation will remain locked in committee.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/02/nyregion/02cnd-death.html?hp&ex=1167800400&en=1838b3917bc685f5&ei=5094&partner=homepage

[pinto]

1. Kudos to a broad, reasoned assessment of the death penalty.

:thumbsup:

[mcscajun]

2. Here's hoping Roberts lets it get out of committee

:thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup:

[brentspeak]

3. I don't agree. There are some crimes that completely warrant the death penalty.

[Judi Lynn]

4. Reuters: New Jersey panel urges abolition of death penalty

New Jersey panel urges abolition of death penalty
Reuters

Jan 2, 2007 — PHILADELPHIA (Reuters) - New Jersey's death penalty should be abolished because it fails to deter murderers, burdens the state financially and is inconsistent with evolving standards of decency, a legislative panel said on Tuesday.

The New Jersey Death Penalty Study Commission, set up last year by state lawmakers to assess if capital punishment should be kept, argued the death penalty should be replaced with life imprisonment in a maximum-security jail without parole.

The 13-person panel — representing police, prosecutors, public defenders, the judiciary and families of murder victims — found the death penalty does not achieve its goal of deterring the worst murders, and that the legal costs of it outweigh those of keeping a criminal in prison for life.

New Jersey, where nine people are currently on death row, conducted its last execution in 1963 and then suspended its death penalty because of uncertainty about the views of the U.S. Supreme Court, which reinstated capital punishment in 1976. New Jersey's current death penalty law dates from 1982.
(snip/...)

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory?id=2766209

Associated Press:

Special panel urges New Jersey to abolish death penalty
The Associated Press
Published: January 2, 2007

TRENTON, New Jersey: New Jersey should abolish its death penalty and replace it with life imprisonment without the possibility of parole, according to a special commission's report sent Tuesday to Governor Jon Corzine and legislators.

The report, obtained by The Associated Press, found no compelling evidence that New Jersey's death penalty, which has not been used in more than four decades, serves any purpose.

It also found abolishing the death penalty would eliminate the danger of executing an innocent person, and said the death penalty costs taxpayers more than prisoners serving life terms without parole.

"There is increasing evidence that the death penalty is inconsistent with evolving standards of decency," the report said.
(snip/...)

http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/01/02/america/NA_GEN_US_Death_Penalty_New_Jersey.php