NJ SCRAPPING DEATH PENALTY

[Rogue Angel]

OK people... serious subject for a change... what do we think of this? For that matter, what do we think of the death penalty in general?
*ducks outta the way*... lol.

PHILADELPHIA - New Jersey is preparing to scrap the death penalty next week, becoming the first state to legislatively abolish capital punishment since the Supreme Court reinstated it in 1976.

State legislators will vote on Monday and Thursday on bills that would end the death penalty and substitute life without parole for the most serious crimes. Lawmakers said the measure is likely to be approved.

The state Senate bill's sponsor, Democrat Ray Lesniak, predicted it will pass both houses of the Democrat-controlled legislature and, after a promised signature by Gov. Jon Corzine, will become law before the end of the year.

"I'm very confident it will pass by a slim margin in the Senate, and by a wider majority in the Assembly," said Lesniak.

Alex DeCroce, leader of the minority Republicans in the state Assembly, said Democrats were rushing the measure through without proper debate. He did not know how individual lawmakers would vote but predicted, "The majority is going to force it though."

New Jersey, with eight people on death row, has not executed anyone since 1963.

A legislative commission recommended in January that the death penalty be abolished, saying there was no evidence it deterred the most serious crimes. Life without parole costs less, and capital punishment is "inconsistent with evolving standards of decency," the commission said.

Downward trend
Thirty-seven states and the federal government have approved the death penalty, but its use has fallen in recent years. The number of death sentences handed down fell by 60 percent from 1999 to 2006 while the number of executions dropped by 40 percent over the same period, according to the Death Penalty Information Center, a Washington research group.

Fifty-three people were executed in 2006, the lowest number for 10 years, and the total is expected to fall this year to 42, said Richard Dieter of the DPIC.

Executions this year have been subject to an effective moratorium pending a decision expected by mid-2008 from the Supreme Court on if lethal injection, a method of execution used by all but one state, amounts to cruel and unusual punishment.

[EvolutionHasBegun]

living in New Jersey is a death penalty...

[Rogue Angel]

HAHAHAHA. well, that may be true, lol, but that's another matter. [img]tongue.gif[/img]

[EvolutionHasBegun]

the system thinks its more cruel to let them live... [img]tongue.gif[/img]

[mRs.GaToR]

and costs us a hell of a lot of money......

[phoenixrising79]

On one hand, I think that capitol punishment is a good and effective deterrent for would be murderers. On the other, is it right to kill someone for another's death? Where is the logic in that? Self gratification? The first human emotion, especially if it is a loved one is rage and hate with a desire for revenge thrown in. Then comes sorrow. Even if you kill the person who murdered, that doesn't fix the situation. Personally, I'd rather pay a little more in taxes for an electricution, then millions to house a murderer in jail and feed them the rest of their life. Just my two cents... I've always wondered why we send innocent people over to fight a war, when we could just ship all of our murderers over there to let them do what they do best... Good question.

[BlackMagicRose]

Got a point. Let them do the dirty work and let the soldiers be able to come home and be with their families. The thing about the death penalty is that too few are willing to implement it anymore. I always believed an eye for an eye. And I hate the fact that my tax dollars go to feeding and sheltering some of these bastards for life. What is worse? Having their life taken from them so they CAN'T go on to get parole and live it? Or letting them rot in jail?

<font color="#B3B3B3" size="1">[ December 08, 2007 03:46 PM: Message edited by: BlackMagicRose ]</font>