New Jersey Senate Votes to End Death Penalty

The State of New Jersey is on the verge of eliminating its death penalty statute. On Monday, December 10th the New Jersey Senate voted for abolition by a margin of 21-16. The Assembly will vote on Thursday and is also expected to approve abolition.

Governor Corzine has indicated that he will vote the bill, which replaces the Death Penalty with Life without Parole, into law. When that occurs, New Jersey will become the first state to legislatively abolish the death penalty since it was reinstated by the Supreme Court in 1978. As of January 1st 2007, there were 11 inmates of Death Row in New Jersey whose sentences would automatically be commuted to Life without Parole. New Jersey has never executed anyone under its current death penalty statute.

Let’s hear it for the Blue State of New Jersey. Use of the death penalty is on the decline in the U.S. and a majority of Americans now prefer Life without Parole over the Death Penalty. Someday the presidential candidates, all of whom support the death penalty, might even look into why that’s the case.