In a let­ter to act­ing New Jersey Govenor Richard J. Codey, Ocean County pros­e­cu­tor Thomas F. Kelaher called for an end to the death penal­ty in New Jersey because he feels the sys­tem is inef­fec­tive and fails to meet the needs of vic­tims’ fam­i­lies. Kelaher, who has been a pros­e­cu­tor for 23 years, said that life with­out parole would be a more appro­pri­ate sen­tenc­ing option for those con­vict­ed of first-degree mur­der. ​“The his­to­ry of non­ap­pli­ca­tion of the law has been a cru­el hoax on fam­i­lies of the vic­tims and the cit­i­zens of this state.… Years of count­less delays, con­tin­u­ous hear­ings and mil­lions of dol­lars lat­er, the con­demned are invari­able moved to the gen­er­al prison pop­u­la­tion. The strain on pros­e­cu­tion bud­gets is enor­mous and the cost in human terms in incal­cu­la­ble,” Kelaher wrote. Kelaher added that New Jersey law requires the auto­mat­ic reveiw of death penal­ty con­vic­tions and that pros­e­cu­tors must meet require­ments that are vir­tu­al­ly impos­si­ble. (The Press of Atlantic City, December 9, 2005) See New Voices, Life Without Parole, and Victims.

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