New Jersey Attorney General says Death Penalty is not Needed

The New Attorney General of New Jersey, Zulima Farber, has been quoted by the Death Penalty Information Center as saying that she doesn’t believe that the Death Penalty is a deterrent, that it isn’t a necessary tool for prosecutors and that she would not oppose extending the New Jersey moratorium.

I assume from that statement that Ms. Farber also wouldn’t oppose abolishing the Death Penalty in New Jersey although she apparently didn’t say that specifically. New Jersey has never executed anyone under its current law but does have 10 folks on death row at the moment.

That’s another nail in the coffin so to speak. If the commission studying the Death Penalty in New Jersey should recommend abolition, the State Attorney General’s office won’t contest the recommendation and may very well support it.

Speaking of Zulima, while I applaud her position on capital punishment, I still believe that her appointment as Attorney General was a disgrace and I’m still holding it against Governor Corzine.

Since 1979, this lady has had some 15 traffic tickets, a dozen for speeding, three license suspensions and two bench warrants issued for her arrest due to failing to appear for court dates related to traffic violations. There is a point where trivial crosses the line into “there’s something seriously wrong here.” I don’t think anyone that has shown such a disdain for the laws of the state of New Jersey deserves to be Attorney General.

If that wasn’t bad enough, when asked about this problem at her Judiciary Committee confirmation hearing, while she did apologize for what she called a “flaw,” she also joked about it by saying it was a good thing the job came with a driver. I think the joke clearly demonstrated that she doesn’t think this is serious and therefore her apology was hollow.

She may have her head screwed on straight about the Death Penalty, but don’t let her behind the wheel of a car!

In the meantime, with executions in Texas and North Carolina, the total number of executions so far in 2006 has reached double digits. Half of the ten executions have been in the state of Texas which has fourteen more scheduled through August.