New Jersey Governor Richard Codey (pic­tured) pro­posed a mora­to­ri­um on exe­cu­tions until a study com­mis­sion could deter­mine whether the state’s death penal­ty sys­tem is fair and cost effec­tive. The gov­er­nor announced his mora­to­ri­um pro­pos­al as the leg­is­la­ture began con­sid­er­ing a bill to ini­ti­ate the study. ​“The gov­er­nor does not think it makes sense to do a study with­out a mora­to­ri­um. So he does sup­port a mora­to­ri­um right now, and he sup­ports it for 18 months to two years,” Codey’s spokes­woman, Kelley Heck, stat­ed. Codey, who is also President of the New Jersey Senate, called for the halt to exe­cu­tions as he stalled a Senate vote on leg­is­la­tion that would have cre­at­ed a 13-mem­ber death penal­ty study com­mis­sion. The bill would cre­ate a pan­el to deter­mine whether the death penal­ty is con­sis­tent with ​“evolv­ing stan­dards of decen­cy,” whether it is dis­crim­i­na­to­ry, and whether it is worth its cost — both in mon­ey for lawyers and the risk of exe­cut­ing an inno­cent defen­dant. Senator Shirley Turner, spon­sor of the study com­mis­sion leg­is­la­tion, echoed Codey’s call for a mora­to­ri­um and added, ​“If we’re going to study the death penal­ty, I think we should not allow any­one to be exe­cut­ed until the report is in.” New Jersey has not exe­cut­ed any­one in 41 years, and exe­cu­tions in the state are cur­rent­ly on hold as the Department of Corrections devis­es new lethal injec­tion rules. The cur­rent exe­cu­tion pro­ce­dures were struck down in February because they shroud­ed exe­cu­tions in secre­cy and made no pro­vi­sions for halt­ing one once it was start­ed, even in the event of a last-minute reprieve. (Star-Ledger, December 7, 2004). See Innocence and Costs.

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