New Jersey lawmakers have voted to suspend executions in the state while a task force studies the fairness and costs of imposing capital punishment. After passing the Senate in December and the Assembly on January 9 by a vote of 55-21, the measure now goes to Governor Richard Codey for his signature into law. Codey has indicated that he will sign the bill, an act that will make New Jersey the first state to pass a death penalty moratorium into law through legislation.

The bill establishes a 13-member study commission that will have until November 2006 to report on whether the death penalty is fairly imposed and whether alternatives such as life without parole would ensure public safety and meet the needs of victims families. According to the bill, executions would be halted while the study is underway.

“This is an issue we should have confronted a long time ago. The injustice of the current system and the steep price tag of it as well means we ought to take a look at it,” said Assembly leader Joseph Roberts. Senator Diane Allen added, “In New Jersey, there has been a sea change in how people view the death penalty. … We’ve looked at the cost, which is enormously more for someone on death row than for a person who’s imprisoned for life without parole.”

There are 10 people on New Jersey’s death row. The last execution in the state took place in 1963.

(Associated Press, January 9, 2006) See Recent Legislative Activity, Costs, and Innocence.