New Jersey Abolishes Death Penalty

by Jarrett Martineau | December 13, 2007 at 04:13 pm

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I had no idea that New Jersey has spent such a huge amount of money maintaining the death penalty without actually executing anyone. But any move away from capital punishment is a good move indeed.

New Jersey abolishes the death penalty. Just one step in a long nationwide move away from capital punishment. Now, New Jersey hasn't actually executed anyone since it first instated its death penalty - but this move is hardly symbolic, as the state has spent about a quarter billion dollars on its death penalty, revealing a counterintuitive fact: the death penalty is far more expensive than life without parole.

The New Jersey Assembly approved legislation Thursday to abolish the state's death penalty, making Gov. Jon S. Corzine's signature the only step left before the state becomes the first in four decades to ban executions.

Assembly members voted 44-36 to replace the death sentence with life in prison without parole. The state Senate approved the bill Monday.

Corzine, a Democrat, has said he will sign the bill within a week.

"We would be better served as a society by having a clear and certain outcome for individuals that carry out heinous crimes," Corzine said. "That's what I think we're doing, making certain that individuals would be imprisoned without any possibility of parole."