After hours of debate and tes­ti­mo­ny, the New Jersey Senate today approved bill S‑171 which will replace the state’s death penal­ty with a sen­tence of life with­out parole. The mea­sure was approved by a vote of 21 – 16 and now moves to the State Assembly, where approval is also expect­ed in a vote on Thursday. The gov­er­nor has indi­cat­ed he will sign the bill into law, mak­ing New Jersey the first state to leg­isla­tive­ly abol­ish the death penal­ty in over 40 years. Around the coun­try, the death penal­ty is declin­ing in use and oth­er states are exam­in­ing their own cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment statutes. (See DPIC’s Press Release; see also N.J. Star-Ledger, Dec. 10, 2007).

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