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.

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