New Jersey to abolish death penalty - your thoughts?

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From cnn.com
[h1]New Jersey lawmakers vote to abolish death penalty[/h1]

(CNN) -- New Jersey lawmakers have voted to abolish the death penalty in the state, sending the governor a bill he has already said he will sign. The measure will make New Jersey the first state in more than 40 years to outlaw capital punishment.

The bill will make life in prison the most severe penalty for convicted murderers in the state, including the eight men currently on the state's death row. New Jersey has not put anyone to death since 1963, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.

The state Assembly approved the measure 44-36 Thursday, following up Monday's 21-16 approval in the state Senate.

A spokesman for Democratic Gov. Jon Corzine said the bill probably will be signed into law within a few days, after the exact text is reviewed closely.

"The governor has said for quite some time that he supports the bill," said spokesman Jim Gardner.

The bill was introduced in November, after a state commission concluded capital punishment does not prevent violent crime, and could lead to innocent people being executed.

Some Republicans had argued police killers and terrorists should still be eligible for execution, but Democrats, who control both houses, backed the change.

"This vote marks a new chapter in our nation's 30-year experiment with capital punishment," said Richard Dieter, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center, which opposes executions.

"New Jersey lawmakers are demonstrating sound judgment in abandoning capital punishment after learning of its costs, the pain it causes victims' families, and the risks the death penalty poses to innocent lives."

The Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty in 1976, and nearly 1,100 people have since been put to death. Capital punishment is used by 37 states, most using lethal injection of chemicals. Electrocution, the gas chamber, hanging, and the firing squad are still on the books in some states.

The most recent execution in the United States took place September 25 in Texas.

A de facto moratorium has been in place since the Supreme Court decided to review lethal injection procedures used on the majority of capital defendants. Oral arguments in the case will be held January 7 and, depending on how the high court rules, executions could be postponed indefinitely.

The last states to ban the death penalty were West Virginia and Iowa in 1965.
Among those on death row in New Jersey is Jesse Timmendequas, whose murder of 7-year-old Megan Kanka in 1994 led to reforms in tracking sex offenders. The state's Megan's Law requires local law enforcement agencies to give notification when convicted sex offenders live or work in neighborhoods.

[h4]No Death Penalty States
[/h4]Alaska
Hawaii
Iowa
Maine
Massachusetts
Michigan
Minnesota
New York
North Dakota
Rhode Island
Vermont
West Virginia
Wisconsin
(District of Columbia)

Source: Amnesty International

Personally, I don't understand how it's possible for a state to spend more on killing the inmate than letting them live out the remainder of theirlife. It's a subject I'm torn about. What are your thoughts?

 

[davidisgodly]

IMO, Life in jail is worst than death.

 

[bayballa707]

yea a lifetime of suffering would be better

 

[jrellcuse10]

New Jersey. Why waste taxpayers money by giving them shelter and food? If they are deservedly on death row give them a lethal injection. Painful death.

 

[i love my jordans]

death penalty is letting them go easy... i say let em rot in jail... i think that is much worse...

 

[y2kingsfan]

another step towards the eventual abolishment of all capital punishment in the US

 

[rockstargetmoney]

The Death Penalty is premeditated murder in the name of "justice". More often than not the wrong person is killed. Where is justice?

 

[roscoe p wallace]

My thing with Death Penalty is this:
The Government's most basic job is to keep us from acting like the big group of animals which we were. If someone were to kill my mom, my instinct would beto go out, and kill that man (which I would try to do). Now lets say he has a brother, his instinct is to kill me. Now you know Roscoe has brothers, so theminute I drop, this dudes brother is next on the list, so hes dead. You get the point. When does it stop?

The government is around to keep us from acting like this (as well as generally acting like Vikings, raping, pillaging, feasting on Snickers, ect). They aresupposed to step in, and the only way they can make the decision of "when to stop the killing" fairly, is by just saying "lets stop the killingnow". The government must act like a non-feeling emotionless unbiased being. Its job is not to say when killing it right, but to say that killing iswrong....end of story. So when they government starts killing people, for killing people.... well then it starts to get confusing.

The best thing they can do it to avoid the whole thing, and just say "no we dont kill people" cause by doing that they do their job of controllingall us humans and making us act less like the animals we are.

 

[limitedretroog]

Good, why would we have to kill a person's life for taking the life of another person??? That makes us no better than the killer themselves. I say let themget raped in jail.

 

[ebayologist]

Originally Posted by jrellcuse10

New Jersey. Why waste taxpayers money by giving them shelter and food? If they are deservedly on death row give them a lethal injection. Painful death.

There are numerous studies I'm sure you can find just with a simple google search or someone will later post that show that just givingsomeone life in prision is signifcantly cheaper than trying to execute someone. Basically as a result of the lengthy appeal process afforded to death rowinmates the cost of their lawyers (if they're state appointed) and the cost of the states laywers, judges, clerks, etc. and just the general costs in usinga court room for that kind of time add up along with just the time the inmate already spends in seperate death row jail/prison or section of a jail/prison addsup to be signifcantly more than just giving someone life in prison where their appeal process is significantly shorter and less costly as they can be justplaced in a regular prison.

 

[roscoe p wallace]

Originally Posted by ebayologist

Originally Posted by jrellcuse10

New Jersey. Why waste taxpayers money by giving them shelter and food? If they are deservedly on death row give them a lethal injection. Painful death.

There are numerous studies I'm sure you can find just with a simple google search or someone will later post that show that just giving someone life in prision is signifcantly cheaper than trying to execute someone. Basically as a result of the lengthy appeal process afforded to death row inmates the cost of their lawyers (if they're state appointed) and the cost of the states laywers, judges, clerks, etc. and just the general costs in using a court room for that kind of time add up along with just the time the inmate already spends in seperate death row jail/prison or section of a jail/prison adds up to be signifcantly more than just giving someone life in prison where their appeal process is significantly shorter and less costly as they can be just placed in a regular prison.

 

[faithlesshox]

^Roscoe dude;

Love your idea and stuff, but as a small side note:

Vikings usually didn't do the "acting like Vikings, raping, pillaging, feasting on Snickers, ect." within their own society/comunety...
they usually went to other european countries to do that... kinda like how the US is acting vikingish in Iraq right now I guess... (I know, thats pushing themetaphor a bit too far )

 

[kash55]

Didn't know they had it.

 

[gordon gartrelle]

I don't agree with the death penalty overall, but some people just need to be removed from this earth for the betterment of humanity. And yes, serving therest of your life in jail will hurt you a lot more than a needle to your arm or some gas that makes you pass out. If this was the 1400's I would be aproponent of the guillotine, but this isn't so we need to deal with criminality in a more realistic and progressive manner than a defensive one.

 

[x Buddha Bless x]

Its about time, soon the whole country will be this way and hopefully the world.

Especially cuz this shhh is counter productive and not cost-effective(Yes it always boils down to money). How you spend more on killing a person than keepingthem alive till they die is crazy. Also I dont understand how you justify killing someone in the name of justice it should be an oxymoron or is it already?

 

[faithlesshox]

^GORDON GART;

Technically speaking you are refereeing to the efficiency of the guillotine of 1789.. the French revolution,
I know the guillotine kinda started in Ireland in the 1300's but the mass production and fashionable use is really from the late 1700's.
Btw, the guillotine is not a painfull death and costs only a bit a of timber and a huge sharp blade... to be reused over and over again, unlike that gilettecrap razors... that you have to change all the time.

 

[hella handsome]

Originally Posted by Roscoe P Wallace

Originally Posted by ebayologist

Originally Posted by jrellcuse10

New Jersey. Why waste taxpayers money by giving them shelter and food? If they are deservedly on death row give them a lethal injection. Painful death.

There are numerous studies I'm sure you can find just with a simple google search or someone will later post that show that just giving someone life in prision is signifcantly cheaper than trying to execute someone. Basically as a result of the lengthy appeal process afforded to death row inmates the cost of their lawyers (if they're state appointed) and the cost of the states laywers, judges, clerks, etc. and just the general costs in using a court room for that kind of time add up along with just the time the inmate already spends in seperate death row jail/prison or section of a jail/prison adds up to be signifcantly more than just giving someone life in prison where their appeal process is significantly shorter and less costly as they can be just placed in a regular prison.

ayo i know this isnt the time of thread for this... but..

@ that comic

 

[nyelectric]

I don't agree with the death penalty. Ever.

 

[gordon gartrelle]

Well yeah the French were probably the most efficient with the ol guillotine and brought it to rockstar status in the 16 and 1700's, but from what I'veread it did happen during the 1400's when the shift of power switched from the Mediterranean nations to that of northern European nations and the end ofthe medieval stages of European history. I wish i could go back in time and be the guy wearing the hood and holding the axe. The same guy who would use the axeon you if the beheading wasn't quite clean enough. I bet that guy had the wench groupies and least enemies. LOL

 

[kiddin like jason]

I don't agree with the death penalty. Ever.
If you want my bottom line, that would be it.

The Death Penalty is premeditated murder in the name of "justice". More often than not the wrong person is killed. Where is justice?
If you want my reasoning, that would be it.

 

[ac4three]

I support the death penalty, but I also realize it's a difficult issue with salient arguments on each side. But...

More often than not the wrong person is killed.
Are you kidding? What is your source for this information???

 

[kickmatic23]

life in a cell must suck but some people just deserve to get their @ss deep fried in the chair.. i'm all for capital pun.. imo all states should just keepit just in case some1 comes along who really deserves it

 

[nachobroadweezy]

I'm for anything that could make our property taxes come down

 

[putting in work]

I don't know about this if it they should completely do away with it.

Isn't New Jersey like one of the baddest places in the United States right now?

 

[prurientsole]

Originally Posted by ebayologist

There are numerous studies I'm sure you can find just with a simple google search or someone will later post that show that just giving someone life in prision is signifcantly cheaper than trying to execute someone. Basically as a result of the lengthy appeal process afforded to death row inmates the cost of their lawyers (if they're state appointed) and the cost of the states laywers, judges, clerks, etc. and just the general costs in using a court room for that kind of time add up along with just the time the inmate already spends in seperate death row jail/prison or section of a jail/prison adds up to be signifcantly more than just giving someone life in prison where their appeal process is significantly shorter and less costly as they can be just placed in a regular prison.

And therein lies my problem with our legal system.

The chemicals used to kill someone by lethal injection cost less than ninety bucks, and yet a serial rapist can spend hundreds of thousands, maybe even amillion, dollars during the appeals process in order to stave off his/her execution.

If a prison is supposed to be a place where criminals are held and "rehabilitated" in the hopes of re-releasing them as productive members ofsociety, it makes little sense to me to have taxpayers house, clothe, and feed an individual for 50-60 years if they've got three life sentences on theirhead. I say that if it's a black-and-white, open-and-shut case where the killer is clearly guilty beyond a shadow of a doubt (even though that's whatALL murder convictions are supposed to be; I'm talking murder weapon found in the car, body in the trunk, etc.), that they should be executed with nochance for appeal. Give them six months in jail so that they and their family can come to terms with the decision, and then kill 'em.

As a result, both the taxpayers and state save a tremendous amount of money, and it could help alleviate the problem of overcrowding in prisons as well.

I know that many people don't believe the "eye for an eye" philosophy, but I strongly, strongly do. In certain cases, leniency shouldn't beshown to someone who's knowingly and brutally overstepped one of the core tenets of any society.