December 10, 2007
Garden State Close To Death Penalty Ban
New Jersey is poised to become the first state to abolish the death penalty in 40 years. The Democratic-majority Senate has just approved legislation repealing the death sentence, which the state Assembly is set to approve on Thursday. Gov. Jon Corzine (D) has indicated he will sign it into law within the month.
Today's vote may portend a wider, mostly blue-state trend (but increasingly red-state, too) of re-examining capital punishment. Progress in DNA technology [PDF] and recent revelations that some deeply held tenets of criminal forensics are seriously flawed are leading legislatures to embark on cost-benefit analyses of the death penalty. More state government leaders are coming around to the view that having capital punishment on the books as a law enforcement tool is not worth the risk of executing the wrongly convicted.
Closer to the Beltway, Maryland seems best positioned to follow New Jersey's example in the near future. Gov. Martin O'Malley (D) has called on lawmakers to enact a repeal, and the state has had a de facto moratorium in effect since a state Supreme Court decision one year ago.
Executions are in a sort of holding pattern across the country. The U.S. Supreme Court in September agreed to take up the constitutionality of lethal injections on Eighth Amendment grounds. That case, as with most cases that come before the court these days, is expected to be a nail-biter, with Justice Anthony Kennedy making the final call.
Posted at 5:03 PM
Posted to:
Constitution, Crime, Supreme Court
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