Welcome to the 21st century, NJ

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

Will we finally come out of the medieval ages? Against all odds, there's some positive news out of New Jersey. :applause:

N.J. Lawmakers Vote to Ban Death Penalty

N.J. Legislators Vote to Abolish Death Penalty; Would Be First State to Ban It in 42 Years

By TOM HESTER

The Associated Press

TRENTON, N.J.

The New Jersey Assembly approved legislation Thursday to abolish the state's death penalty, making Gov. Jon S. Corzine's signature the only step left before the state becomes the first in four decades to ban executions.

Assembly members voted 44-36 to replace the death sentence with life in prison without parole. The state Senate approved the bill Monday.

Corzine, a Democrat, has said he will sign the bill within a week.

The measure would spare eight men on the state's death row, including the sex offender whose crimes sparked Megan's Law.

A special state commission found in January that the death penalty was a more expensive sentence than life in prison, hasn't deterred murder and risks killing an innocent person.

"It's time New Jersey got out of the execution business," Democratic Assemblyman Wilfredo Caraballo said. "Capital punishment is costly, discriminatory, immoral and barbaric. We're a better state than one that puts people to death."

Among the death row inmates who would be spared is Jesse Timmendequas, a sex offender convicted of murdering 7-year-old Megan Kanka in 1994. That case sparked a Megan's Law, which requires law enforcement agencies to notify the public about convicted sex offenders living in their communities.

Senate Republicans had sought to retain the death penalty for those who murder law enforcement officials, rape and murder children, and terrorists, but the Senate rejected the idea.

Democrats control the state Legislature.

The nation has executed 1,099 people since the U.S. Supreme Court reauthorized the death penalty in 1976. In 1999, 98 people were executed, the most since 1976; last year 53 people were executed, the lowest since 1996.

Iowa and West Virginia halted executions in 1965. Other states have considered abolishing the death penalty recently, but none has advanced as far as New Jersey. According to the Washington-based Death Penalty Information Center, 37 states have the death penalty.

Bills to abolish the death penalty were recently approved by a Colorado House committee, the Montana Senate and the New Mexico House. But none of those bills has advanced.

The nation's last execution was Sept. 25 in Texas. Since then, executions have been delayed pending a U.S. Supreme Court decision on whether execution through lethal injection violates the constitutional ban on cruel and unusual punishment.

On the Net:

Amnesty International USA: http://www.amnestyusa.org/

Death Penalty Information Center: http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/

Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Copyright © 2007 ABC News Internet Ventures

ABC News

[Fandango 1,439]

How is putting someone to death more expensive than life without parole?

[one...two...tree 2,762]

Way to go NJ!

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

How is putting someone to death more expensive than life without parole?

Because it takes decades of process and court costs to actually put someone down.

It's just cheaper to lock them up and toss the key.

[Dan J 277]

How is putting someone to death more expensive than life without parole?

Because it takes decades of process and court costs to actually put someone down.

It's just cheaper to lock them up and toss the key.

Yup, unless someone decides to give up their right to appeal and all that. Which is not likely to happen.

[mawilson 2,133]

How is putting someone to death more expensive than life without parole?

You kill them and they're dead, but if they're alive, you can put them in a giant hamster wheel to generate energy? Dunno.

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

How is putting someone to death more expensive than life without parole?

You kill them and they're dead, but if they're alive, you can put them in a giant hamster wheel to generate energy? Dunno.

Now there's an idea.

[Ban Hammer 13,337]

before ya'll start patting each other on the back and giving each other bj's over this, here's one of those on the list who will be affected by this:

Another of the eight is Jesse Timmendequas, the sex offender who murdered 7-year-old Megan Kanka in 1994. The case inspired Megan's Law, which requires law enforcement agencies to notify the public about convicted sex offenders living in their communities.

link

[Alex+R 0]

before ya'll start patting each other on the back and giving each other bj's over this, here's one of those on the list who will be affected by this:

Another of the eight is Jesse Timmendequas, the sex offender who murdered 7-year-old Megan Kanka in 1994. The case inspired Megan's Law, which requires law enforcement agencies to notify the public about convicted sex offenders living in their communities.

link

Charles, what you don't understand is that those who feel killing a criminal is morally wrong don't care what that person did. You can make any argument you want in the world but if I believe capital punishment is sick, wrong and uses a primitive kind of morality most of the developed world has moved past (and that is what I believe), telling me what someone did doesn't affect whether I believe the state should murder him.

eta: I only care what he did insofar as I care that the state gets ample opportunity to punish him for an entire lifetime.

Edited December 18, 2007 by Alex+R

[Peikko 1,575]

Affected? You mean someone won't get their jollies watching this person die? They aren't exactly going to let these people back out into society now are they?

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

You can make any argument you want in the world but if I believe capital punishment is sick, wrong and uses a primitive kind of morality most of the developed world has moved past (and that is what I believe), telling me what someone did doesn't affect whether I believe the state should murder him.

Agreed.

[Ban Hammer 13,337]

before ya'll start patting each other on the back and giving each other bj's over this, here's one of those on the list who will be affected by this:

Another of the eight is Jesse Timmendequas, the sex offender who murdered 7-year-old Megan Kanka in 1994. The case inspired Megan's Law, which requires law enforcement agencies to notify the public about convicted sex offenders living in their communities.

link

Charles, what you don't understand is that those who feel killing a criminal is morally wrong don't care what that person did. You can make any argument you want in the world but if I believe capital punishment is sick, wrong and uses a primitive kind of morality most of the developed world has moved past (and that is what I believe), telling me what someone did doesn't affect whether I believe the state should murder him.

eta: I only care what he did insofar as I care that the state gets ample opportunity to punish him for an entire lifetime.

and you can make any arguement you wish, i believe those who find executing this monster to be unnecessary are worthless and weak. put a bullet in his head, he does not deserve to draw one more breath.

Edited December 18, 2007 by charlesandnessa

[Alex+R 0]

before ya'll start patting each other on the back and giving each other bj's over this, here's one of those on the list who will be affected by this:

Another of the eight is Jesse Timmendequas, the sex offender who murdered 7-year-old Megan Kanka in 1994. The case inspired Megan's Law, which requires law enforcement agencies to notify the public about convicted sex offenders living in their communities.

link

Charles, what you don't understand is that those who feel killing a criminal is morally wrong don't care what that person did. You can make any argument you want in the world but if I believe capital punishment is sick, wrong and uses a primitive kind of morality most of the developed world has moved past (and that is what I believe), telling me what someone did doesn't affect whether I believe the state should murder him.

eta: I only care what he did insofar as I care that the state gets ample opportunity to punish him for an entire lifetime.

and you can make any arguement you wish, i believe those who find executing this monster to be unnecessary are worthless and weak. put a bullet in his head, he does not deserve to draw one more breath.

You think people who don't believe in the death penalty are worthless?

Anyway, it's only weakness if you are operating within the sort of moral framework that you do, which seems to be less complex than most 10-year-olds', but that must make life awfully simple for you.

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

The justice system was never about pandering to sentimentality or indeed what private citizens feel that a criminal deserves.

I always find it interesting that people decry the likes of Saudi Arabia or indeed Sudan (for example) for the inhumane judicial punishments they mete out - and the dodgy legal processes that go along with them; yet whenever someone commits a heinous crime over here there's a big outcry, and no shortage of "string him up" and "hang draw and quarter" rhetoric.

Surely the application of human rights is intended for all people, all of the time, regardless of whether individuals feel that certain people don't deserve it. Surely its a general principle...

Edited December 18, 2007 by Number 6

[Ban Hammer 13,337]

before ya'll start patting each other on the back and giving each other bj's over this, here's one of those on the list who will be affected by this:

Another of the eight is Jesse Timmendequas, the sex offender who murdered 7-year-old Megan Kanka in 1994. The case inspired Megan's Law, which requires law enforcement agencies to notify the public about convicted sex offenders living in their communities.

link

Charles, what you don't understand is that those who feel killing a criminal is morally wrong don't care what that person did. You can make any argument you want in the world but if I believe capital punishment is sick, wrong and uses a primitive kind of morality most of the developed world has moved past (and that is what I believe), telling me what someone did doesn't affect whether I believe the state should murder him.

eta: I only care what he did insofar as I care that the state gets ample opportunity to punish him for an entire lifetime.

and you can make any arguement you wish, i believe those who find executing this monster to be unnecessary are worthless and weak. put a bullet in his head, he does not deserve to draw one more breath.

You think people who don't believe in the death penalty are worthless?

Anyway, it's only weakness if you are operating within the sort of moral framework that you do, which seems to be less complex than most 10-year-olds', but that must make life awfully simple for you.

too weak to figure out that some people don't deserve to continue living. but that's ok, i don't expect you to see much with your rose colored glasses.