NJ to repeal death penalty???

[Libyan Sibyl]

The Assembly will vote next month on legislation to repeal New Jersey's never-used death penalty, Speaker Joseph Roberts (D-Camden) said today, adding he is "cautiously optimistic" the bill will pass.

At a Statehouse news conference with Sister Helen Prejean, whose ministry to death row inmates was described in her book "Dead Man Walking," Roberts said he is committed to making New Jersey "the first state to legislatively repeal the death penalty."

With support for capital punishment waning nationally, such a move would make New Jersey "a beacon on the hill" that other states will follow, Prejean predicted.

"I know you're known as the Garden State; it's going to be great to also be known as the life state," said Prejean, who has made a dozen trips to New Jersey to urge repeal of the death penalty.

Roberts said the Assembly will take up a bill (A-3716) http://www. by Assemblyman Wilfredo Caraballo (D-Essex) that would replace capital punishment with life imprisonment without the possibility of parole.

"The bottom line of that bill is to lock murderers in jail and throw away the key," Roberts said. "The cost of having a death penalty that never gets used can no longer be tolerated."

New Jersey performed its last execution in 1963, nine years before all then-existing death penalty laws were struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1972. Since New Jersey reinstated capital punishment in 1982, no one has been executed. One death row inmate, John Martini, has exhausted all appeals but the state has no valid regulations for performing a lethal injection.

Under the timetable outlined by Roberts, the Assembly Judiciary Committee would consider Caraballo's bill on Dec. 6 and the full Assembly would vote a week later.

The Senate Judiciary Committee approved a bill to replace capital punishment with life imprisonment without parole in May. It is awaiting action by the Senate Budget Committee, where it was sent for consideration of whether repealing capital punishment would cost or save the state money.

Contributed by Robert Schwaneberg


www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2007/11/assembly_will_vote_on_repealin.html

[richardkelsey]

libyansybil said:

The Assembly will vote next month on legislation to repeal New Jersey's never-used death penalty, Speaker Joseph Roberts (D-Camden) said today, adding he is "cautiously optimistic" the bill will pass.

At a Statehouse news conference with Sister Helen Prejean, whose ministry to death row inmates was described in her book "Dead Man Walking," Roberts said he is committed to making New Jersey "the first state to legislatively repeal the death penalty."

With support for capital punishment waning nationally, such a move would make New Jersey "a beacon on the hill" that other states will follow, Prejean predicted.

"I know you're known as the Garden State; it's going to be great to also be known as the life state," said Prejean, who has made a dozen trips to New Jersey to urge repeal of the death penalty.

Roberts said the Assembly will take up a bill (A-3716) http://www. by Assemblyman Wilfredo Caraballo (D-Essex) that would replace capital punishment with life imprisonment without the possibility of parole.

"The bottom line of that bill is to lock murderers in jail and throw away the key," Roberts said. "The cost of having a death penalty that never gets used can no longer be tolerated."

New Jersey performed its last execution in 1963, nine years before all then-existing death penalty laws were struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1972. Since New Jersey reinstated capital punishment in 1982, no one has been executed. One death row inmate, John Martini, has exhausted all appeals but the state has no valid regulations for performing a lethal injection.

Under the timetable outlined by Roberts, the Assembly Judiciary Committee would consider Caraballo's bill on Dec. 6 and the full Assembly would vote a week later.

The Senate Judiciary Committee approved a bill to replace capital punishment with life imprisonment without parole in May. It is awaiting action by the Senate Budget Committee, where it was sent for consideration of whether repealing capital punishment would cost or save the state money.

Contributed by Robert Schwaneberg


www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2007/11/assembly_will_vote_on_repealin.html

The Supreme Legislature of NJ already repealed this right after the elected representatives of New Jersey passed it!

This is merely a formality -- as the Supreme Court long ago made clear that no person would ever get the death penalty -- by disgracefully declaring that no criminal in Jersey ever got a fair trial.

This travesty of an activist Court is a judicial disgrace.

[admin]

I know a lot of people will disagree with me, but I am no fan of the death penalty. I will not miss it.

[concerned]

Surprised? This great state of ours does everything to empower the criminal, prevent he police from from protecting us and our kids, and keep the criminals out of prison. NJ needs to wake up and realize everything can't be politically correct.

[petedefonzo]

As I grow older my, belief in the death penalty becomes much less certain. Life in prison without parole,would seem to be a much greater punishment for many "death penalty"crimes. However,I do believe that some crimes do deserve the death penalty - mass murder, torturing and murdering someone,along with someothers. Since NJ has never and will never execute ANYONE, the death penalty is a joke.

[adefonzo]

libyansybil said:

The Assembly will vote next month on legislation to repeal New Jersey's never-used death penalty, Speaker Joseph Roberts (D-Camden) said today, adding he is "cautiously optimistic" the bill will pass.

At a Statehouse news conference with Sister Helen Prejean, whose ministry to death row inmates was described in her book "Dead Man Walking," Roberts said he is committed to making New Jersey "the first state to legislatively repeal the death penalty."

With support for capital punishment waning nationally, such a move would make New Jersey "a beacon on the hill" that other states will follow, Prejean predicted.

"I know you're known as the Garden State; it's going to be great to also be known as the life state," said Prejean, who has made a dozen trips to New Jersey to urge repeal of the death penalty.

Roberts said the Assembly will take up a bill (A-3716) http://www. by Assemblyman Wilfredo Caraballo (D-Essex) that would replace capital punishment with life imprisonment without the possibility of parole.

"The bottom line of that bill is to lock murderers in jail and throw away the key," Roberts said. "The cost of having a death penalty that never gets used can no longer be tolerated."

New Jersey performed its last execution in 1963, nine years before all then-existing death penalty laws were struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1972. Since New Jersey reinstated capital punishment in 1982, no one has been executed. One death row inmate, John Martini, has exhausted all appeals but the state has no valid regulations for performing a lethal injection.

Under the timetable outlined by Roberts, the Assembly Judiciary Committee would consider Caraballo's bill on Dec. 6 and the full Assembly would vote a week later.

The Senate Judiciary Committee approved a bill to replace capital punishment with life imprisonment without parole in May. It is awaiting action by the Senate Budget Committee, where it was sent for consideration of whether repealing capital punishment would cost or save the state money.

Contributed by Robert Schwaneberg


www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2007/11/assembly_will_vote_on_repealin.html

Wanted to drag this topic back up as well...

First of all, I am for the death penalty for crimes that warrant it. I don't believe it should be used for every murder, but there are certainly cases where it should be an option...I'm not going to get into that debate right now...

What I want to point out is some items in the article that caught my attention. As I highlighted in red Assemblyman Roberts seems to feel that the death penalty is costing the state of New Jersey money, which is why it was apparently sent to the Senate Budget Committee to see if it would be better or worse financially for the state to officially do away with the option.

Hold on...I'm confused...how does something that you have not used since 1963 cost you money?

Furthermore, how does something you have not used since 1963, which you apparently don't even have the proper procedures in place to administer it...how does that cost you money?

And finally, I am admittedly a novice in the judiciary costs, but it seems to me that it should be less expensive to administer a lethal injection to someone than it would be to provide for them in the prison system for the next 20, 30, 40 plus years!! I know...with all the appeals that go into a death penalty case, it costs the state tons of money...well do you think those appeals are going to vanish just because someone is faced with life without the possibility of parole instead??

I don't see why you would not want to leave a sentencing option in place when it should not be costing the state any extra than if they got rid of it.

Look at it this way...if the state pulls the option off the books, then next year, god forbid there is some nut job who kidnaps, rapes, and murders some young innocent children...are you going to tell me that we the taxpayers should have to pay for this guy to get three square meals a day, free medical attention, and all of the other benefits that prisoners get nowadays, for the next 40 years until he dies of natural causes?? Uh-uh...not me...you get rid of a person like that.

And please, don't preach to me about rehabilitation, psychological problems, bad childhood, etc etc etc...I was a criminal justice major in college with a minor in psychology...so save your breath.

My point is simple...better to have the option available if a situation arises where it is warranted, rather than taking money out of our pockets to keep a maniac like that alive a lot longer than he probably would have lived if he didn't get caught in the first place.

[richardkelsey]

My position on the death penalty is that it is used to rarely to be effective. It is used as a political football for advocacy groups, and the costs associates with litigating matters through 15-17 years of appeals is not good. The failure to administer the penalty correctly, however, is not an argument to eliminate it.

The real irony is -- absent a death penalty -- many convicted killers would lack not receive adequate defenses. Capital cases provide the best, state-funded defenses for accused indigent defendants. Non-profits and do-gooders spend money and resources on project targeted solely at capital convictions, not life sentences. Removing the death penalty may have unforeseen adverse effects on representation. (Just a different perspective)

I clerked on two separate death penalty cases as a law clerk -- so I understand how they work, and what is at stake.

I think the death penalty is a policy decision -- and I can support the decision in either outcome.

My only disgust is when, as in NJ, the will of the people and their legislature is thwarted by the Judiciary. Is it possible that no capital murderer in NJ has ever had a fair trial? If so -- why the rush to give them all a bunch of unfair life sentence trials? Is it the position of the legislature that life sentence cases will improve the fairness of the trial or the quality of the representation now that the light of the death penalty is not shining on the procedures. I don't think that will be the case!