After exten­sive pub­lic hear­ings, the New Jersey Death Penalty Study Commission issued a report on January 2 call­ing for an end to the state’s death penal­ty and replac­ing it with a sen­tence of life with­out parole. The 13-mem­ber Commission was appoint­ed by the state leg­is­la­ture, which also placed a mora­to­ri­um on all exe­cu­tions until a report was pre­pared. The report cit­ed the risks of exe­cut­ing the inno­cent, the high costs of the death penal­ty, and soci­ety’s evolv­ing stan­dards of decen­cy in call­ing for the abo­li­tion of cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment. The County Prosecutors’ Association of New Jersey con­curred with the final rec­om­men­da­tions of the Commission Report.

​“There is increas­ing evi­dence that the death penal­ty is incon­sis­tent with evolv­ing stan­dards of decen­cy,” the report states. Ending the death penal­ty would bet­ter serve the state’s inter­ests and the needs of vic­tims’ fam­i­ly mem­bers: ​“The alter­na­tive of life impris­on­ment in a max­i­mum secu­ri­ty insti­tu­tion with­out the pos­si­bil­i­ty of parole would suf­fi­cient­ly ensure pub­lic safe­ty and address oth­er legit­i­mate social and peno­log­i­cal inter­ests, includ­ing the inter­ests of the fam­i­lies of mur­der vic­tims,” the report found. New Jersey has not had an exe­cu­tion since 1963. There are nine peo­ple on death row. 

(Associated Press, Jan. 2, 2007). Read the full Report (avail­able by 2 p.m., Jan. 2). See Recent Legislation and Studies.

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