Hats Off To New Jersey!

Let's hope that this is a trend that will continue
in this country. The death penalty has done
nothing to deter crime in this country and only
serves those seeking legal revenge. So my hat is
of for New Jersey for having thee courage to do
the right thing. What do you think?


The New Jersey Assembly voted today to abolish the death penalty, poising the state to become the first since 1965 to eliminate capital punishment.

The state Senate earlier this week also voted to end executions and replace them with sentences of life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Gov. Jon S. Corzine, a longtime foe of the death penalty, said today before the vote that he would sign the bill into law within a few days; aides said it would happen most likely early next week.

At a news conference in Trenton, Corzine said, "We would be better served as a society by having a clear and certain outcome for individuals who carry out heinous crimes. And that's what I think we are doing -- making certain that individuals will be in prison without any possibility of parole."

He acknowledged that by signing the bill he could be opening himself to political attack, but said that the current system clearly was not working and "for lots of different reasons, I think the state is taking a painful but constructive step."

Although New Jersey has not had an execution since 1963, the campaign has drawn attention around the country. Sister Helen Prejean, whose work against the death penalty was dramatized in the film "Dead Man Walking," has made a dozen trips to New Jersey in support of the measure and predicted that other states will follow its lead.

However, attempts to abolish the death penalty in several other states have failed in recent years although it now seems possible that Maryland, whose governor opposes capital punishment, will go the same route as New Jersey. Currently, there is a nationwide de facto moratorium on executions, spurred by legal challenges contending that lethal injection, which is used in most states, is excessively painful. The U.S. Supreme Court will take up the issue in January.




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