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State And Federal Info

New Jersey

Notable Commutations/Clemencies

In 2007, the sentences of all 8 inmates on death row were commuted to life without parole the day prior to the abolition of the death penalty in New Jersey.

Inmates commuted: David Cooper, Ambrose Harris, Nathaniel Harvey, Sean Kennety, John Martini, Jessie Timmendequas, Marko Bey and Brian Wakefield.

Milestones in Abolition/Reinstatement

A state appeals court ruled in 2004 that New Jersey’s procedures for administering the death penalty were unconstitutional. The state rewrote the procedures but never finalized them, and they expired in 2005.

In 2005, New Jersey lawmakers voted to suspend executions while a study commission examined the fairness and expense of the state’s death penalty. Governor Richard Codey signed the bill on January 12, 2006.

In 2007, a bill to replace the death penalty with life without the possibility of parole passed the state Senate and General Assembly and was signed by the governor.

New Jersey was the first state to legislatively abolish the death penalty since 1965.

Other Interesting Facts

The first electric chair was invented by Harold P. Brown and Arthur Kennelly at Thomas Edison’s New Jersey laboratory in 1888.

No executions were carried out in New Jersey between reinstatement in 1982 and abolition in 2007.

New Jersey was the first state to impose a moratorium on executions through legislation.

In 2007, a bill to replace the death penalty with life without the possibility of parole passed the state Senate and General Assembly and was signed by the governor.
In 2007, a bill to replace the death penal­ty with life with­out the pos­si­bil­i­ty of parole passed the state Senate and General Assembly and was signed by the governor.
Long Pond Ironworks State Park.  Photo by Hope Abrams.
Long Pond Ironworks State Park. Photo by Hope Abrams.

Resources

  • Department of Corrections
  • New Jerseyans for Alternatives to the Death Penalty
  • Public defender’s office
  • Victims’ services

News & Developments


Sentencing Alternatives

Nov 01, 2018

LWOP Post-Repeal

Life Without Parole Laws in States That Recently Repealed the Death Penalty…

Deterrence

Jan 12, 2018

Experience Shows No ​“Parade of Horribles” Following Abolition of the Death Penalty

States that have recent­ly abol­ished the death penal­ty have not expe­ri­enced the ​“parade of hor­ri­bles” — includ­ing increased mur­der rates — pre­dict­ed by death-penal­ty pro­po­nents, accord­ing to death-penal­ty experts who par­tic­i­pat­ed in a pan­el discussion …

Experience Shows No “Parade of Horribles” Following Abolition of the Death Penalty

Intellectual Disability

Dec 28, 2017

Judge Finds New Jersey Federal Capital Defendant Intellectually Disabled, Bars Death Penalty

A New Jersey U.S. dis­trict court judge has barred fed­er­al pros­e­cu­tors from seek­ing the death penal­ty against Farad Roland, find­ing that Roland is intel­lec­tu­al­ly dis­abled and there­fore inel­i­gi­ble for cap­i­tal punish…

Judge Finds New Jersey Federal Capital Defendant Intellectually Disabled, Bars Death Penalty

Costs

Dec 18, 2017

New Jersey Marks Tenth Anniversary of Abolition of Capital Punishment

On December 17, 2007, New Jersey abol­ished the death penal­ty. On the tenth anniver­sary of abo­li­tion, the edi­to­r­i­al board of the New Jersey Law Journal writes, ​“On …

New Jersey Marks Tenth Anniversary of Abolition of Capital Punishment

Innocence

Jul 23, 2012

INNOCENCE: State Supreme Court Takes Lead on Eyewitness Identification Errors

One of the prin­ci­pal caus­es of wrong­ful con­vic­tions in death penal­ty cas­es and oth­er felonies is mis­tak­en eye­wit­ness tes­ti­mo­ny. On July 19, the New Jersey Supreme Court issued instruc­tions designed to help jurors bet­ter eval­u­ate t…

INNOCENCE: State Supreme Court Takes Lead on Eyewitness Identification Errors

New Voices

May 30, 2012

NEW VOICES: New Jersey Attorney General Does Not Want Death Penalty Back

Jeff Chiesa was recen­ty sworn in as New Jersey’s new Attorney General. He for­mer­ly served as chief coun­sel and exec­u­tive assis­tant to Governor Chris Christie. In dis­cussing his pri­or­i­ties, he said he would not sup­port rein­state­ment of the death pe…

Innocence

Dec 05, 2011

STUDIES: Eyewitness Identification Comes Under Supreme Court and Scientific Scrutiny

The U.S. Supreme Court recent­ly con­sid­ered Perry v. New Hampshire, a case ques­tion­ing the valid­i­ty of eye­wit­ness tes­ti­mo­ny when the iden­ti­fi­ca­tion was made under unre­li­able circumstances.…

Deterrence

Jan 13, 2011

NEW VOICES: ​“Police Officials Argue Death Penalty Doesn’t Make Us Safer”

Four law enforce­ment offi­cials from var­i­ous coun­tries who came togeth­er in Washington, D.C., in 2010 for a ground­break­ing inter­na­tion­al dia­logue on the death penal­ty recent­ly pub­lished an op-ed in the San Jose Mercury News

NEW VOICES: "Police Officials Argue Death Penalty Doesn't Make Us Safer"

Dec 17, 2007

Governor Corzine’s Remarks on Eliminating Death Penalty in New Jersey

NEWS RELEASEGovernor Jon S. CorzineDecember 17, 2007 FOR MORE INFORMATION:Press Office609-777‑2600 Governor Jon S. CorzineRemarks as DeliveredDecember 17, 2007

Religion

Dec 13, 2007

Jews join strug­gle against NJ death penalty

by Michal LandoDecember 13, 2007Jerusalem Post New Jersey is on its way to becom­ing the first state to repeal the death penal­ty since 1976, when the US Supreme Court rein­stat­ed cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment, and Jews are using tra­di­tion to we…

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View Information by State

Additional Information


  • Death Penalty: No
  • Number of Executions Since 1976: 0
  • Number of Executions Before 1976 (may include federal and military executions): 361
  • Current Death Row Population: 0
  • Women on Death Row: 0
  • Number of Innocent People Freed From Death Row: 0
  • Number of Clemencies Granted: 8
  • Date of Reinstatement (following Furman v. Georgia): August 6, 1982
  • Date of Abolition: December 17, 2007
  • Location of Death Row: Trenton
  • Capital: Trenton
  • Region: Northeast
  • Population: 9,288,994*
  • Murder Rate: 2.95
  • Is Life Without Parole an Option?: Yes
  • Can a defendant get death for a felony in which s/he was not responsible for the murder?: No
  • Method of Execution: N/A
  • Clemency Process: Governor has sole authority to grant clemency
  • Governor: Phil Murphy

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