TRENTON, N.J. (ABP) – In what could become the biggest legislative victory for opponents of capital punishment, the New Jersey Senate voted Dec. 10 to repeal that state's death penalty and replace it with life imprisonment.
The chamber voted 21-16 to repeal the bill. If the New Jersey Assembly follows suit when it takes up the bill later in the week and Gov. John Corzine (D) signs the bill into law – as both are expected to do – New Jersey would become the first state in nearly 30 years to repeal its death-penalty law.
The U.S. Supreme Court reinstated states' ability to administer the death penalty in 1976. Since then, legislators in several states have tried to repeal their capital-punishment statutes but have always failed.
A handful of states have declared moratoriums on carrying out their death-penalty laws, either through gubernatorial or judicial action, because of a perception that the laws were unfairly enforced. Studies have shown repeatedly that some ethnic minorities convicted of murder are far more likely to be sentenced to death and executed than Caucasian murderers. And publicity over several recent cases in which DNA testing has exonerated death-row inmates has reduced popular confidence in the accuracy of the system.
But a significant majority of the public still supports the death penalty. A Quinnipiac University poll released Dec. 11 found that 53 percent of New Jersey voters oppose ending capital punishment, while 39 percent support the repeal.
However, the survey found, a nearly identical majority prefers life imprisonment without parole to the death penalty.
New Jersey legislators passed the bill in a lame-duck session. While the vast majority of those who voted in favor of the repeal are Democrats, four are Republicans who broke with their party's leaders. Three of those will not return to the New Jersey Senate after their current term ends this year.
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