New Jersey set to stop executions

[Judi Lynn]

Last Updated: Tuesday, 10 January 2006, 08:46 GMT


New Jersey set to stop executions

New Jersey is set to become the first state in the US to pass a law putting a moratorium on the death penalty.

Both houses of its legislature have approved a measure calling for a halt on executions until November while a commission studies the death penalty.

Governor Richard Codey is expected to sign the bill into law. New Jersey has not executed anyone since 1963, but it has 10 prisoners on death row.

The states of Illinois and Maryland have had governors order moratoriums.
(snip/...)

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/4597610.stm

[Greeby]

1. ....

:applause:

[goclark]

6. Yea for NJ - way to go! nt

[Judi Lynn]

2. New Jersey lawmakers first to pass death-penalty moratorium

New Jersey lawmakers first to pass death-penalty moratorium
Jan 10, 2006, 17:08 GMT

Washington - New Jersey lawmakers have suspended the death penalty, legislating the first state moratorium since the U.S. Supreme Court reintroduced capital punishment in 1976.

A special commission will now make a sweeping review of the use of executions in New Jersey, including whether they are applied fairly and without discrimination and whether 'the risk of an irreversible mistake is acceptable.'

New Jersey is among 38 U.S. states that reintroduced the death penalty after the 1976 high-court ruling, though no inmate has been executed since 1963.

Maryland and Illinois also imposed moratoriums in the past, but these were decreed by state governors, not the legislature. Maryland lifted its suspension in 2003.
(snip/...)

http://news.monstersandcritics.com/northamerica/article_1074863.php/New_Jersey_lawmakers_first_to_pass_death-penalty_moratorium

[warrens]

3. NOW's expose on two Texas cases did it for me

This system is broken for good. No matter how you try to make the law only for totally heinious, iron-clad cases, ambitious thug prosecutors will expand the definition til they get marginal cases with sketchy evidence included. It can't be reformed, so it has to be ended. And the cops and prosecutors can stop their whining now; without their railroading (mainly black) suspects, it might be a viable strategy for the worst of the worst. But they have proven over and over that they can't be trusted. Nancy Grace, the postergirl for all this crap, was once censured for withholding exculpatory evidence in a case. She just wanted to win SO BAD, who cares about justice?

If you missed it, you can watch the NOW episode at PBS.org.

[Judi Lynn]

7. Thanks for the reference to NOW. Here's the link:

http://www.pbs.org/now/society/deathpcases.html

There's also a chance to vote in the "Do You Support the Death Penalty" poll here:
http://www.pbs.org/now/

[LostinVA]

4. Yay! My home state!

[RaRa]

5. Here in Illinois, the GOP contender

vows to lift the moratorium (Topinka). Unfreakingbelievable. (Well, not really)

[High Plains]

8. Okay, I guess I can forgive NJ for its smoking ban, then.

Now if they would only pass the needle exchange bill they've been holding up for 10 years.