New Jersey Abolishes Death Penalty

Gov. Corzine Signs Bill Banning Capital Punishment; First State To Do So In Four Decades

(CBS/AP)  Gov. Jon S. Corzine signed into law Monday a measure abolishing the death penalty, making New Jersey the first state in more than four decades to reject capital punishment.

The bill, approved last week by the state Assembly and Senate, replaces the death sentence with life in prison without parole.

"This is a day of progress for us and for the millions of people across our nation and around the globe who reject the death penalty as a moral or practical response to the grievous, even heinous, crime of murder," Corzine said.

The measure spares eight men on the state's death row. On Sunday, Corzine signed orders commuting the sentences of those eight to life in prison without parole.

Among the eight spared is Jesse Timmendequas, a sex offender who murdered 7-year-old Megan Kanka in 1994. The case inspired Megan's Law, which requires law enforcement agencies to notify the public about convicted sex offenders living in their communities.

New Jersey reinstated the death penalty in 1982 - six years after the U.S. Supreme Court allowed states to resume executions - but it hasn't executed anyone since 1963.

The state's move is being hailed across the world as a historic victory against capital punishment. Rome plans to shine golden light on the Colosseum in support. Once the arena for deadly gladiator combat and executions, the Colosseum is now a symbol of the fight against the death penalty.

Since 1999, the first century monument Colosseum has been bathed in golden light every time a death sentence is commuted or a country abolishes capital punishment.

"The rest of America, and for that matter the entire world, is watching what we are doing here today," said Assemblyman Wilfredo Caraballo, a Democrat.

The bill passed the Legislature largely along party lines, with controlling Democrats supporting the abolition and minority Republicans opposed. Republicans sought to retain the death penalty for those who murder law enforcement officials, rape and murder children, and terrorists, but Democrats rejected that.

"Sparing the lives of brutal murderers only a week before Christmas will leave a hole in the hearts of surviving family members that will never heal," said Assembly Minority Leader Alex DeCroce, R-Morris.

Richard Kanka, Megan's father, noted Corzine signed the bill exactly 15 years to the day that death row inmate Ambrose Harris kidnapped, raped and murdered 22-year-old Lower Makefield, Pa., artist Kristin Huggins in Trenton.

"Just another slap in the face to the victims," Kanka said.

Members of victims' families fought against the law.

"I will never forget how I've been abused by a state and a governor that was supposed to protect the innocent and enforce the laws," said Marilyn Flax, whose husband Irving was abducted and murdered in 1989 by death row inmate John Martini Sr.

New Jersey's Public Defender's Office, which represents all eight men, questioned whether Corzine had authority to commute death sentences to life in prison without parole.

"We have to discuss the implications of commuting a sentence to a sentence that did not exist at the time they were sentenced," said Tom Rosenthal, spokesman for Public Defender Yvonne Smith Segars.

But Rosenthal said none of the eight men are likely to get paroled should their former sentences stand. David Cooper, 37, would be the youngest before he was eligible for parole at age 78, assuming he was released at his first parole hearing.

The last states to eliminate the death penalty were Iowa and West Virginia in 1965, according to the National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty.

The nation has executed 1,099 people since the U.S. Supreme Court reauthorized the death penalty in 1976. In 1999, 98 people were executed, the most since 1976; last year 53 people were executed, the lowest since 1996.

"Justice should have been served," said Sharon Hazard-Johnson, whose parents were killed in their Pleasantville home in 2001 by death row inmate Brian Wakefield. "I think we all know that justice has not been served."

Other states have considered abolishing the death penalty recently, but none has advanced as far as New Jersey.

The death penalty is on hold nationwide, reports CBS News correspondent Bob Orr. There have been no executions since September, and none is expected until the Supreme Court decides some time next year if lethal injection amounts to a cruel and unusual punishment.

"The word will travel around the globe that there is a state in the United States of America that was the first to show that life is stronger than death, that love is greater than hatred, and compassion and standing for the dignity of the human person is stronger than the need for revenge," said Sister Helen Prejean, the Roman Catholic nun who wrote "Dead Man Walking."

According to the Washington-based Death Penalty Information Center, 37 states have the death penalty.

States with the death penalty:

Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Illinois, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Washington, Wyoming.

States without the death penalty:

Alaska, Hawaii, Iowa, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, North Dakota, New York, Rhode Island, Vermont, West Virginia, Wisconsin.

Bills to abolish the death penalty were recently approved by a Colorado House committee, the Montana Senate and the New Mexico House. But none of those bills has advanced.

The nation's last execution was Sept. 25 in Texas. Since then, executions have been delayed pending a U.S. Supreme Court decision on whether execution through lethal injection violates the constitutional ban on cruel and unusual punishment.

[mitywhity]

This will be regretted. Where there are no serious consequences, there is no serious consideration of actions. I feel sorry for the innocents there.

[thefarmer77]

"A special state commission found in January that the death penalty was a more expensive sentence than life in prison, hasn''t deterred murder and risks killing an innocent person."

I would like to see the numbers on that claim. I can not see how feeding a person three meals a day, housing him/her, and taking care of a person for possibly 40 - 60 years, depending on the age of the person committing the crime assuming 80 year life span, can be cheaper.

[rushman71]

That''s New England Liberals for ya!!! They really care for the criminal minds and the corrupt!!! But don''t give a farrt about the victims!!! Whatever happened to crime and punishment? As Ron White said on his comedy show,"Down here in Texas, we have the death penalty, and we use it!!!" But the liberal pundits just love to give murderers and rapists a pitty party!!! Is that justice?

[rushman71]

thefarmer77: That was a good statement you made!!!

[drivelphobe]

If they spend that much on executions, I can save them money. I''ll do it for free.

[gunshack1]

I don''t know if the death penalty deters crime, but what I do know, it deters criminals permanently.

[farmerbb]

As for "deters CRIMINALS permanently", how about we say "deters THE CONVICTED permanently". We have seen far too many people convicted of a crime, only to be released years later when DNA or other evidence shows they could not possibly have done the crime. Tell the guy who was executed we made a mistake, but REAL criminals get what they deserve....."you just happened to be in the wrong line when they handed out tickets".

[extremophil]

Let''s all go to New Jersey and kill somebody. It''s the taxpayers treat!

[fornicario]

I think that the death penalty, when it is actually applied to the guilty who deserve it, does work. But with the horror stories coming out about the innocent men who have been executed, or the innocents who were about to be, followed with the coddling of the true evil by the lawyers and the legal system, we need to come up with ONE standard for the death penalty, one that can be sure that the only people who receive it are the monsters who deserve it. Until then, I do not want to see another innocent man killed for a ''mistake''.

[cheddarboy82]

what a joke. Death penalty should be in all states. dumb liberals. Such wimps. You kill someone and get caught you should be put down as well. Not fair these murders get food, life, attention but the person they killed is gone forever. And tax payers pay for it, what a load of garbage. I just dont get it

[vittoria1]

Rushman71, New Jersey is not in New England. Moreover, several of the other states that do not have the death penalty or are considering getting rid of it are not New England states. This abolition is no surprise, since New Jersey hasn''t executed anyone in years. My guess is that many other states will follow suit within the next decade, leaving Texas and perhaps one or two others in a difficult position.

[cheddarboy82]

we need harsher punishments in this country, people get away with too much and its getting worse. To say the death penalty is an easier out is wrong, ask anyone on death row, they would rather stay in a cell.

[taddles-2009]

"I would like to see the numbers on that claim.

Posted by thefarmer77 at 09:01 AM : Dec 17, 2007"

The numbers have been posted several times, here they are again.

http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/article.php?did=108

Capitol punishment costs more because of the increase in court costs and costs for required appeals that can go on for years.

Capitol punishment is not a problem for most people provided you have the right person. However, 128 people have been released from death row in the past couple years due to changes in DNA technology that proved their innocence. No one has checked the records and DNA of persons who have already been executed so there is no way to say for sure that innocent people have not been executed. Therefore you must assume that innocent people may have been executed and that can not be tolerated in a civil society.

[bigsk8fan]

illinois stopped the death penalty when the governor realized that they had released too many folks from death row who were later proved innocent.

[fibonacci_]

Nice!

[macusweil]

"Good choice Gov. Jon S. Corzine!

Thank you. All states should follow suit."

Amen to that.. to those who believe we are a Christian nation then this is a great day. For the worse crimes life without parole is justice, state sponsored execution is playing God. There is no second chance for the innocent man once he has been given the death penalty. A hold over from a more privative time like slavery and apartheid, it is time to end this barbaric practice.

[glndale187]

Too many questionable convictions and possible cases of mistaken identity? perhaps; I don''t know, never been further up the East Coast than BWI. Glen.

[shoebox119]

The best news I''ve heard in a long, long time.

Must be a bummer for the neocons, though. They treat killing like an art form, whether it''s abroad in some phony war or state-sponsored murder of their own fellow citizens right here at home, they just can''t get enough of it, I guess... just as long as someone else is doing the killing, of course.

[beehive21-2009]

Prisons are farmed out to private companies for profit,wonder how much the governor was paid to let a private org. tap into the taxpapers pockets.What your seeing ,taxpapers lining alot of folks pockets, with gold in the name of justice.Life in prison is a death sentence.The killers need to kill themselves as its over,the lowlife, should have the decency to terminate themselves.

[antoniof123]

I just dont get it

Posted by cheddarboy82 at 10:48 AM : Dec 17, 2007

What else is new for a neocon they just don''t get it.

[jjarden]

shoebox119...yea...neocon killing like an "Art form"...however your liberal killing of unborn babies is more like a massacre and slaughter. What do you have say about that?

[tbweb]

What about the new death penalty? The penalty on the wallets of New Jersey Taxpayers having to feed, house and provide medical, educational and rehabilitation services for these Megan type murderers for the rest of their lives! New Jersey can''t afford this new tax increase and it is a tax increase, its increased spending by the state! Why should anyone live on the street and be a bum, they make out better killing someone and going to a New Jersey Prison!

[antoniof123]

For you neocons who insist that this is justice you should check your facts. In the bible it was written a life for a life however, a life for a life was the maximum penalty that one could be given. You see back then it was the law that if you killed someone your whole family was put to death.

So much for justice.

jjarden, at least with abortion, it''s not society forcing something on someone. It''s a personal choice. execution, however, is something that some believe in and not others. Since alot of the conviction process is not hard, it is possible to execute innocent people. I don''t want as part of our nation to have the blood of innocent people on my hands. As for abortion, my wife and I do not think we would ever have one, but we don''t want to force our opinion on others.

[fibonacci_]

Now we just need to make some harder core prisons and get rid of death penalty in all other states.

[macusweil]

"The penalty on the wallets of New Jersey Taxpayers having to feed, house and provide medical, educational and rehabilitation services for these Megan type murderers for the rest of their lives ~AR_Teacher"

So we should just kill people because its too expensive to jail them? What about the innocent man who was sentenced to die by mistake/framed??

AR_Teacher needs another lessons in fact.. it costs more for trial and execution than to keep someone in jail for life.

[connapa]

"It''s simply a specious argument to say that, somehow, after six millennia of recorded history, the punishment no longer fits the crime," said Assemblyman Joseph Malone, R-Burlington.

And I''m sure that Mr. Malone also believes that the earth is the center of the universe. That was also the prevailing theory about 6000 years ago, too.
In order for punishment to be effective, the sentence must be prompt. Waiting over 13 years as the killer of Megan kanka has been doing is nowhere near being prompt. Waiting in a private cell, doing whatever you want within the confines of that space, for well over a decade is not punishment. Being put into the general population, as Jeffrey Dahmer was, is.

[writescripts]

I have no problems with abolishing the death penalty, or keeping the death penalty as long as ALL states do the same thing. Just the simple act of crossing the state line makes the outcome very different.

[Syndicate]

Well, If I ever decide to become a serial killer I''ll do it in New Jersey. That way I can escape every few years and continue my sick hobby. What are they going to do give me more time?

[fibonacci_]

I cant believe that people still use the argument "it is too expensive to keep them alive."

Guess what - it is more expensive to kill them. Yes in some countries it is as expensive as the bullet that kills them, the execution. But in the USA it is on average about 3 times as expensive to kill someone tha keep them alive. Plus it is barbaric to kill people in handcuffs...we think we have found "a good enough reason to kill them." Sounds like the mentality of a murderer - they think thoughts like that too. I am all for harder core jails though. They should have a visit like maximum every two years and no TV or contact with others...after all, they killed someone.

[cfin5]

Well, maybe on the bright side all the idiots will leave my state and go to New Jersey to work their trade. Especially the repeat offenders. Thanks Gov. Corzine, you can have''em!

[elichez1]

I would find it amusing if they performed at least one more execution in Jersey, and that would be for crimes of incompetance on the entire, stinking, corrupt, legislature. They are all greed bloated, double-dipping, pension padding pieces of shiiiiiiiiiiiiiiit! I would also find it amusing if they all contracted genitel herpes and trooper Higbee ran into them.

[ivandrago]

This is a sad day for state sanctioned retribution. If the prisons attempted serious rehab and education then maybe some of the repeat offenders would find better use for their murderous rage.

[mike71067]

I guess "rehabilitating" dangerous murderers, and giving them free meals, room and board, with satellite TV, at taxpayer''s expense, is a better punishment than death. I see.

I guess I was never meant to think like a liberal.

[gunownerdan]

We need to bring back the firing squad.
Lethal injection is such a waste of money, especially when a bullet costs .25 cents.

[oleander8]

GOOD FOR YOU, NEW JERSEY!!!!! For most of the guys given the death penalty - death is too good/easy for them. Prison ain''t no picnic.

[gmond]

The death penalty doesn''t work as a deterrent and costs the taxpayer far more than keeping the prisoner incarcerated for life. No more death penalty means no more instant martyrdom and no more automatic appeals, aside from the fact that the act of legally putting someone to death is rather barbaric anyway.

[pensacola88]

Hats off to the Great State of New Jersey. They have abandoned the Pagan practice of executions. Only Pagan thinking tolerates or promotes judicial executions. That makes one more state off the hypocrit list.

[mikefrmd]

"I guess "rehabilitating" dangerous murderers, and giving them free meals, room and board, with satellite TV, at taxpayer''''s expense, is a better punishment than death. I see.

I guess I was never meant to think like a liberal."

Don''t for get free health care and college educations.

[sioux4life1]

Ok, then lets try this, Governor. IF a animal like CONGO the dog can protect his family and property from a illegal, then I guess his death sentence should be commited to life without doggie treats. HEY the guy won 250,000 dollars from this family, why sentence this dog to death for doing what dogs do, protect and defend their territories including their families!

[andor3]

Yep the death penalty: it is barbaric, more expensive than the alternatives, does not work to deter crime, and probably violates the Constitution.

But some people still argue for it? Why? They just like to see killin and vengeance I guess.

[Krazcarl]

You folks are crazy theres little education {legal} in prison and just minimal health care somehow you folks spending the rest of your days with mental cases and the scum of the earth is the life of Riley take a look a prison chow the tag line you get hungrey enough you eat it. How you justify as liberal and forgiving to put a man in a cage for the rest of his days is beyond me yea you didn''t kill him you just made him suffer like a animal for the rest of his days.

[figuy30]

Cruel, unusual, barbaric, discriminatory, immoral? What about the murdered victims? What right did the murderer have to plan and murder an innocent victim? Was that cruel, unusual, barbaric? What idiot would argue that supporting someone for 30 years is cheaper than putting them to death? And who actually cares what they do in Rome? Lethal injection is too good for some creep who has no regard for human life. It should be changed to a bullet in the head. It''s cheaper. Or maybe we could send them to Rome.

[usbrit-2009]

OK michael t302 I started to write a flame but people like you a so fu*cking pig ignorant you wouldn''t understand it anyway, so why bother.

[shoebox119]

...it is NOT probable that innocent people will be executed.

Posted by michaelt302

But it is POSSIBLE that innocent folks will be executed, and that''s why America should join the rest of the civilized world and abolish it once and for all.

[shoebox119]

133 countries have abolished the death penalty, including nearly all industrialized, "first world" nations.

The United States, along with "great Nations" like Afghanistan, Cuba, India, Iraq, Iran, Libya, North Korea, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Syria, allow the death penalty.

Wow... we''re in good company, aren''t we, fellow citizens?

[dewjr88]

Wow Michael and guy30,

I wanted to come on and blast the people that were saying that the death penalty is cruel and more expensive and all the other false statements they have been blabbing out of their pie-holes. But it looks like it was handles very well. I think that if someone is convicted of murdr they have a 2 year appeal window. And that is because sometimes things aren''t found out or evidence is found in their favor. After 2 years your DONE!! Like guy said, they should be taken out into the parking lot and a 50cent bullet put in their head. Throw them in a pine box and bry them in a field somewhere. How expensive can that REALLY be. Cruel and Unusual?!?!?!!? HA!!! Let them know the same feeling as their victims, that is only fair. They should actually be put to death the same way they took their victims lives.

[gunownerdan]

Criminals Prefer Unarmed Victims
www.a-human-right.com

[dewjr88]

USbrit, fire away!!! We understand that people like you like to say don''t kill them!!! But think if it was a husband or wife or you daughter or son that was brutally murdered. You can honestly say that it is fair for that person to continue living and not your loved one/ Come on!!!

[andor3]

"What idiot would argue that supporting someone for 30 years is cheaper than putting them to death?"

Turns out that it is a fact--easy to check. Maybe you should also look up "idiot" while you are at it, you got that backwards too.

"What about the murdered victims? ... Lethal injection is too good for some creep who has no regard for human life. It should be changed to a bullet in the head."

If you honestly believe this, you are as despicable and immoral as any inmate on death row. Two wrongs never make a right. Vengeance and equating violence with justice is the refuge of the weak and cowardly.