• New Jersey Senate Approves Abolition Bill 21 – 16 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).
  • New Jersey Senate to Vote on Death Penalty Abolition Today, December 10, 2007, the New Jersey Senate will vote on a bill (Senate Bill 171) to replace the death penal­ty with the sen­tence of life with­out parole. Earlier, the New Jersey Death Penalty Study Commission held exten­sive pub­lic hear­ings that cul­mi­nat­ed in a report call­ing for an end to the death penal­ty. The Commission con­sist­ed of a wide range of per­spec­tives, includ­ing law enforce­ment, vic­tims, and attor­neys. Some of the key find­ings of the report included:
  • Abolition of the death penal­ty will elim­i­nate the risk of dis­pro­por­tion­al­i­ty in capital sentencing.
  • The peno­log­i­cal inter­est in exe­cut­ing a small num­ber of per­sons guilty of mur­der is not suf­fi­cient­ly com­pelling to jus­ti­fy the risk of mak­ing an irreversible mistake.
  • 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 New Jersey Assembly is expect­ed to vote on a sim­i­lar bill (Assembly Bill 3716) on December 13, and Governor Jon Corzine will sign the bill if it pass­es both hous­es. The bill would make New Jersey the first state to leg­isla­tive­ly abol­ish the death penal­ty since the U.S. Supreme Court rein­stat­ed the death penal­ty in 1976. Read the New Jersey Death Penalty Study Commission report here.

  • New Jersey Moves Closer to Abolishing the Death Penalty By an 8 – 4 vote on Dec. 3, the New Jersey Senate Budget Committee vot­ed to advance a bill to replace the death penal­ty with a sen­tence of life in prison with­out parole. The bill would make New Jersey the first state to leg­isla­tive­ly abol­ish the death penal­ty since the U.S. Supreme Court rein­stat­ed the death penal­ty in 1976. Senator Raymond Lesniak, the bil­l’s spon­sor, cit­ed a recent case of wrong­ful con­vic­tion in New Jersey when explain­ing his sup­port for abol­ish­ing the death penal­ty. He stat­ed, ​“There are hun­dreds of [peo­ple] through­out the United States who were wrong­ly con­vict­ed of mur­der…. You can’t say it can’t hap­pen in New Jersey. It can. It’s impos­si­ble for human beings to devise a sys­tem free of the risk of human error.” In January of 2007, a New Jersey com­mis­sion began inves­ti­gat­ing cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment and its place in the state’s crim­i­nal jus­tice sys­tem. Their report found that not only was their no clear evi­dence that the death penal­ty deterred mur­der, but also that it was more expen­sive than sen­tenc­ing a per­son to life in prison. Families of sev­er­al mur­der vic­tims like­wise urged the state to abol­ish the death penal­ty. Charles Bennett’s daugh­ter and two grand­chil­dren were killed by Bennett’s son-in-law Scott McCarter, who killed him­self after the mur­ders. Bennett told the com­mis­sion, ​“Had Scott lived I can­not imag­ine our fam­i­ly going through the agony of a death penal­ty process.” He also said that he and his fam­i­ly would have ​“fought fero­cious­ly” against a death sen­tence so they could get quick­er jus­tice for the loss of their loved ones. The death penal­ty bill is expect­ed to be put to a full vote in the New Jersey Senate and Assembly before the leg­isla­tive ses­sion ends on Jan. 8, 2008. Governor Jon Corzine sup­ports the bill. The last exe­cu­tion in New Jersey took place in 1963, and the state cur­rent­ly has 8 peo­ple on death row. (“New Jersey Moves Toward Abolishing Death Penalty,” by Tom Hester, Jr., Associated Press. December 3, 2007).
  • New Jersey Lawmakers to Vote on Abolishing Death Penalty New Jersey Assembly Speaker Joseph Roberts, Jr. (pic­tured) has announced that on December 13 mem­bers of the Assembly will vote on whether to reduce the state’s most severe pun­ish­ment to life in prison with­out parole. A spokes­woman for Senate President Richard J. Codey said the Senate is like­ly to take sim­i­lar action before the leg­isla­tive ses­sion ends on January 8, though a date has not been set for the vote. If approved by the Legislature and signed by Gov. Jon Corzine, who oppos­es the death penal­ty, the move would make New Jersey the first state to vote to abol­ish cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment since the U.S. Supreme Court rein­stat­ed it in 1976. Roberts made the announce­ment in Trenton after meet­ing with Sister Helen Prejean, author of ​“Dead Man Walking.” He called New Jersey’s death penal­ty a ​“flawed pub­lic pol­i­cy” that is cost­ly, dis­crim­i­na­to­ry, immoral and cru­el. He added that ​“the con­se­quences are irrepara­ble if mis­takes are made” and said that ​“the time has come” to con­sid­er the abo­li­tion mea­sure. Prejean praised the deci­sion and said that New Jersey is ​“going to be a bea­con on the hill.” New Jersey rein­stat­ed the death penal­ty in 1982, but has not exe­cut­ed any­one since 1963. The Legislature imposed a mora­to­ri­um on exe­cu­tions in December 2005 when it formed a com­mis­sion that stud­ied the death penal­ty. The state has eight men on death row. (Associated Press, November 9, 2007).
  • Hearings to Begin on Historic Legislation to Abolish Death Penalty in New Jersey The New Jersey Senate Judiciary Committee will hold hear­ings on May 10, 2007, on leg­is­la­tion that would replace the state’s death penal­ty with a sen­tence of life with­out parole. If passed, New Jersey would become the first statesince cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment was rein­stat­ed to abol­ish the death penal­ty leg­isla­tive­ly. The bill stems from a January report issued by a spe­cial study com­mis­sion appoint­ed by the New Jersey leg­is­la­ture. The com­mis­sion’s report over­whelm­ing­ly rec­om­mend­ed abo­li­tion of the death penal­ty, not­ing that the state’s cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment sys­tem costs tax­pay­ers more than life terms for pris­on­ers, and that there is no evi­dence the death penal­ty deters peo­ple from com­mit­ting mur­ders. ​“The death penal­ty sim­ply does­n’t work as a deter­rent and the risks and costs involved far out­weigh any ben­e­fits it may bring to our soci­ety,” not­ed New Jersey Senator Shirley Turner, a sup­port­er of the mea­sure. ​“The fact is, there is no way to guar­an­tee that an inno­cent man or woman would not be wrong­ly exe­cut­ed. As a soci­ety, we can­not risk the lives of the inno­cent to exact pun­ish­ment on those who are guilty.… New Jersey has moved beyond the need for pun­ish­ments based on revenge rather than jus­tice. We are a decent, com­pas­sion­ate peo­ple who would rather see the most heinous crim­i­nals locked up for eter­ni­ty than exe­cut­ed,” she said. Governor John Corzine favors abol­ish­ing the death penal­ty, as do Democratic lead­ers of both the New Jersey Senate and House. Currently, there are nine men on the state’s death row. New Jersey has not had an exe­cu­tion since 1963. (Associated Press, May 6, 2007). UPDATE: At the con­clu­sion of its hear­ing on leg­is­la­tion to replace the state’s death penal­ty with life with­out parole, the New Jersey Senate Judiciary Committee vot­ed 8 – 2 to release the mea­sure to the full Senate for con­sid­er­a­tion. (Associated Press, May 10, 2007).
  • New Jersey Legislative Commission Recommends Abolition of State’s Death Penalty 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).
  • New Jersey Commission Weighs Whether Death Penalty Should be Continued During its first pub­lic hear­ing on cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment, the New Jersey Death Penalty Study Commission heard tes­ti­mo­ny from wit­ness­es rep­re­sent­ing a broad spec­trum of opin­ions. Almost all those tes­ti­fy­ing spoke against retain­ing the death penal­ty. Among those who tes­ti­fied before the 13-mem­ber pan­el were legal experts, reli­gious lead­ers, mur­der vic­tims’ fam­i­ly mem­bers, and exonerees such as Larry Peterson, who spent 18 years in a New Jersey prison for a rape and mur­der he did not com­mit. During the hear­ing, Peterson not­ed that he was grate­ful that jurors in his case chose not to hand down the death sen­tence sought by pros­e­cu­tors because ​“if you take a life, you can’t turn around and cor­rect the wrong that has been done.” It took Peterson’s attor­neys a decade to secure test­ing of bio­log­i­cal sam­ples using DNA tech­nol­o­gy. Those tests led to the rever­sal of his con­vic­tion and his release in May 2006. Barry Scheck, co-direc­tor of the Innocence Project in New York City, also tes­ti­fied about the issue of wrong­ful con­vic­tions dur­ing the hear­ing, not­ing, ​“It’s ridicu­lous …to assume that mis­takes will not be made. We have demon­strat­ed that there is a lot of error in the sys­tem.” On the day of the hear­ing, a report enti­tled ​“Innocence Lost in New Jersey” was released by New Jerseyans for Alternatives to the Death Penalty. The report focused on 25 inno­cence cas­es in the state and list­ed 8 caus­es that lead to wrong­ful con­vic­tions, includ­ing eye­wit­ness error, false tes­ti­mo­ny, and a focus on win­ning instead of seek­ing jus­tice. In oth­er tes­ti­mo­ny offered dur­ing the hear­ing, Lorry Post, who began his work to abol­ish the death penal­ty after his daugh­ter was mur­dered by her hus­band, said the cur­rent death penal­ty brings no final­i­ty, is unfair, wastes mon­ey, and risks killing inno­cent peo­ple. ​“It cre­ates a cul­ture of killings, and it’s a hor­ri­ble, hor­ri­ble thing, which almost match­es the hor­ror of what some of us have lost,” Post stat­ed. The New Jersey Death Penalty Study Commission was cre­at­ed by the state leg­is­la­ture, which vot­ed in January to halt exe­cu­tions in the state while the fair­ness and costs of impos­ing the death penal­ty are exam­ined. The Commission is to report its find­ings to law­mak­ers by November 15. No one has been exe­cut­ed in New Jersey since 1963. (Philadelphia Inquirer, July 20, 2006, and Cherry Hill Courier-Post, July 20, 2006). Read an Executive Summary of ​“Innocence Lost in New Jersey.” Read more about the New Jersey Death Penalty Study Commission. See Innocence, Victims, and Testimony of DPIC’s Executive Director before the Study Commission.
  • The Death Penalty Moratorium in New Jersey New Jersey law­mak­ers have vot­ed to sus­pend exe­cu­tions while a study com­mis­sion exam­ines the fair­ness and expense of the state’s death penal­ty. Governor Richard Codey signed the bill on January 12. New Jersey is the first state to impose a mora­to­ri­um on exe­cu­tions through leg­is­la­tion. (Associated Press, January 9, 2006 and The Trenton Times, December 14, 2005)
    • NEW JERSEY’S MORATORIUM — New Jersey’s mora­to­ri­um will remain in effect until January 15, 2007. New Jersey is the third state to halt exe­cu­tions since cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment was rein­stat­ed. Since 2000, mora­to­ri­ums have been estab­lished by exec­u­tive order in Illinois and Maryland. Maryland’s mora­to­ri­um has since been lift­ed. The death penal­ty statutes in New York and Kansas were both found uncon­sti­tu­tion­al in 2004 and have not been remedied.
    • THE STUDY COMMISSION — New Jersey’s study com­mis­sion must be appoint­ed with­in 45 days of the bil­l’s sign­ing into law. The group will con­sist of 13 mem­bers and they will have until November 2006 to report their find­ings. Among the issues the com­mis­sion will exam­ine are pos­si­ble racial and geo­graph­ic bias, costs, and whether alter­na­tives exist that will both ensure pub­lic safe­ty and address the needs of vic­tims’ families.
    • LEGISLATIVE VOTE HISTORY(In favor of the moratorium)
      • Assembly 55 – 21 (12/​15/​05)
      • Senate 30 – 6 (1/​9/​06)
  • New Jersey Lawmakers Vote to Suspend Executions As Death Penalty Study Proceeds New Jersey law­mak­ers have vot­ed to sus­pend exe­cu­tions in the state while a task force stud­ies the fair­ness and costs of impos­ing cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment. After pass­ing the Senate in December and the Assembly on January 9 by a vote of 55 – 21, the mea­sure now goes to Governor Richard Codey for his sig­na­ture into law. Codey has indi­cat­ed that he will sign the bill, an act that will make New Jersey the first state to pass a death penal­ty mora­to­ri­um into law through leg­is­la­tion. The bill estab­lish­es a 13-mem­ber study com­mis­sion that will have until November 2006 to report on whether the death penal­ty is fair­ly imposed and whether alter­na­tives such as life with­out parole would ensure pub­lic safe­ty and meet the needs of vic­tims fam­i­lies. According to the bill, exe­cu­tions would be halt­ed while the study is under­way. ​“This is an issue we should have con­front­ed a long time ago. The injus­tice of the cur­rent sys­tem and the steep price tag of it as well means we ought to take a look at it,” said Assembly leader Joseph Roberts. Senator Diane Allen added, ​“In New Jersey, there has been a sea change in how peo­ple view the death penal­ty. … We’ve looked at the cost, which is enor­mous­ly more for some­one on death row than for a per­son who’s impris­oned for life with­out parole.” There are 10 peo­ple on New Jersey’s death row. The last exe­cu­tion in the state took place in 1963. (Associated Press, January 9, 2006)
  • New Jersey Governor Vetoes Death Penalty Study Bill A month after New Jersey’s leg­is­la­ture passed by a wide mar­gin a bipar­ti­san bill call­ing for the cre­ation of a study com­mis­sion to exam­ine the cost, fair­ness and effects of cap­i­tal pros­e­cu­tions in the state, Governor James McGreevey has vetoed the mea­sure. The bill passed the leg­is­la­ture in December 2003 with the sup­port of key state law­mak­ers, includ­ing death penal­ty pro­po­nents. In recent years, pub­lic sup­port for cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment in gen­er­al has sharply declined in New Jersey, and the major­i­ty of those polled have favored a study. (N.Y. Times, December 14, 2003; New Jerseyans for a Death Penalty Moratorium, Press Release, Jan. 12, 2004). Read the bill.
  • New Jersey Legislators Vote to Study Death Penalty Members of New Jersey’s leg­is­la­ture have passed by a wide mar­gin a bipar­ti­san bill call­ing for the cre­ation of a study com­mis­sion to exam­ine the cost, fair­ness and effects of cap­i­tal pros­e­cu­tions in that state. The bill had the sup­port of key state leg­is­la­tors, includ­ing Republican Senator Robert Martin. Martin said that he believed it might be time for New Jersey to con­sid­er a com­plete ban on cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment, not­ing that the state’s review process ​“is so cum­ber­some and expen­sive” that New Jersey might be bet­ter off ​“with a pun­ish­ment that was life impris­on­ment with­out parole.” Public opin­ion sur­veys show that many New Jerseyans agree with Martin. In a recent poll, pub­lic sup­port for the death penal­ty drops to 36% when respon­dents are giv­en the sen­tenc­ing option of life with­out parole. Support for cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment in gen­er­al has also sharply declined. According to the Eagleton Poll at Rutgers University, 76% of those ques­tioned sup­port­ed the death penal­ty in 1975, and in 1981, 73% stat­ed sup­port for the pun­ish­ment. A 1999 poll revealed that sup­port had declined to 63%. The study bill will now go to New Jersey Governor James McGreevey for his con­sid­er­a­tion and sig­na­ture into law. (New York Times, December 14, 2003) Read the leg­is­la­tion.
  • In January 2003, mem­bers of New Jersey’s General Assembly passed a bill autho­riz­ing a com­pre­hen­sive, one-year death penal­ty study. The 54 – 10‑1 vote of sup­port for bill A1913, intro­duced by New Jersey’s Deputy Speaker Alfred E. Steele, autho­rizes a study com­mis­sion to look at all aspects of the cur­rent cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment law. Key ques­tions include whether the death penal­ty is a deter­rent to crime, whether the cost from indict­ment to exe­cu­tion out­weighs the cost of life in prison with­out parole, whether selec­tion and sen­tenc­ing of defen­dants in New Jersey cap­i­tal tri­als is arbi­trary or unfair in any way, and whether alter­na­tives to the death penal­ty exist. Steele not­ed, ​“The death penal­ty sys­tem in New Jersey is irrepara­bly bro­ken. All it has brought our state is sig­nif­i­cant expen­di­tures of time and mon­ey defend­ing lengthy and numer­ous con­sti­tu­tion­al chal­lenges and appeals. The finan­cial costs alone of attempt­ing to imple­ment the death penal­ty may no longer be jus­ti­fi­able giv­en the oth­er needs of this state,” The bill now awaits fur­ther con­sid­er­a­tion by the New Jersey Senate. (New Jersey Assembly Democratic Majority, January 23, 2003) .
  • In August 2001, Attorney General John Framer Jr. launched a review of stan­dards that pros­e­cu­tors use for seek­ing the death penal­ty. Farmer will heaad a pan­el to study why some coun­ties are far more like­ly than oth­ers to seek the death penal­ty and whether the state should impose a more uni­form approach to the way it is applied. (Star-Ledger, 8/​21/​01)