Death Penalty legislation/ New Jersey commission report

A special commission created by the New Jersey legislature late in 2005 is recommending that that state abolish its death penalty, according to CNN, New York Times, and Findlaw articles this morning.

The commission, charged with “studying all aspects of the death penalty as currently administered in the State of New Jersey,” released its final report Tuesday, citing that “there is no compelling evidence that (New Jersey’s) death penalty rationally serves a legitimate penological intent;” that, while it is not possible to measure costs with any degree of precision, “the costs of the death penalty are greater than the costs of life in prison without parole;” and that “there is increasing evidence that death penalties are inconsistent with evolving standards of decency.”


As of this posting, there are two bills in Washington which would abolish the death penalty altogether (S 122 and HB 4923)
The “Innocent Life Protection Act of 2005” (HB 379), would require any state having a person sentenced to death who was later found innocent, impose a 10-year moratorium which can’t be terminating without application to the Attorney General; and “The Death Penalty Reform Act of 2006” (HB 5040) would amend the federal criminal code to “modify substantive law & procedures relating to the death penalty,” including the granting the Attorney General regulatory authority over the implementation of the death penalty, and “requiring a court in a death penalty case to assign a second attorney to the defendant when the government files a notice of intent to seek the death penalty.” It would also allow the government to “strike for cause jurors who opposed the death penalty.”

Ohio has a house bill pending in its Judiciary Committee which would have essentially duplicated the New Jersey study above. There has, however, been no action on it since its introduction back in May 2005. (HB 260)

Other material on death penalty news & issues is available from the Death Penalty Information Center, including a summarization of “Changes in Death Penalty Laws Around the U.S.: 2000-2005”