New Jersey Abolition Lobby Building Steam

New Jerseyans for Alternatives to the Death Penalty has been working since 1999 to end the use of the death penalty in New Jersey. At the beginning of this year they accomplished a huge goal when then Governor Codey signed the current moratorium bill which created a panel to study the death penalty and make a recomendation to the State Legislature on its continued use.  Without wasting any time on the celebration, they went to work lobbying for an abolition bill which if signed into law would replace the the sentence of "death" with the sentence of "life without the possibility of parole".

In the last two weeks both the Star Ledger and Philadelphia Inquirer have run some op-eds and articles that are very favorable to NJADP's cause.  According to Celeste Fitzgerald the Executive Director of NJADP

Two of them address how the death penalty revictimizes surviving family members.  In another, Larry Peterson discusses his experience as an innocent man who New Jersey sought to execute.  And, in a Saturday, June 17, 2006 editorial, the Star Ledger writes that 'opponents and proponents of capital punishment realize a far more sensible approach would be to give the most heinous killers life in prison without possibility of parole...It's time to end the charade.'

Here is a listing of the articles with links to each:

New Jersey Crime Victims' Law Center Executive Director Richard Pompelio on abolishing the death penalty for the sake of victims' families.

Philly Inquirer on Larry Peterson's exoneration.

Larry NJADP founder Lorry Post on the death penalty's "Catch 22" involving victims' families and the risk of executing the innocent.

The Star Ledger: The Death Penalty is a Loser.

Facts about the Death Penalty:

There is a significant risk of executing and innocent person. Since 1973, one hundred and twenty-two people have been exonerated and released from death row.

There is a demonstrated racial bias in the application of death sentences.  Year after year, statistical reviews in New Jersey have found significant evidence that killers of white victims are more likely to be sentenced to death than killers of black victims.

Capital Punishment costs more than life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Capital Punishment is not an effective deterrent.  Studies have shown that there is no relationship between the existance of the death penalty and the murder rate.

Executions cause secondary trauma to corrections officers and governmet officials whose official duties force them to participate in the taking of another human life.

For more information on the death penalty in general and on the status of legislation to bring its use to an end in NJ you can refer to www.njadp.org.