Posted by
Ed Lilly on Wednesday, December 12, 2007 9:59:50 AM
I see on Michelle Malkin's blog that the Democrats in New Jersey are apparently working to eliminate the death penalty in this state. The news report from the Courier Post that Ms. Malkin links to provides in part as follows:
The Legislature moved New Jersey closer Monday to becoming the first
state to pass a law repealing the death penalty since it was nationally
reinstated in 1976.
The state Senate passed the measure 21-16, and the Assembly Public Law
and Safety Committee advanced the bill by a 5-1 vote to the full
Assembly. The Assembly will take up the bill Thursday, positioning New
Jersey to replace capital punishment with life in prison without parole
by early next year.
Of course, more surprising to me was the revelation that New Jersey still actually HAS the death penalty on the books.
My guess is no criminal who truly deserves it is ever going to be executed in New Jersey anyway, so I'm not going to get too worked up about this nominal change in law. When the busybodies in the State House figure out a way to outlaw living in Camden, Jersey City and Newark because residing in such locations is effectively a death sentence, then things may get interesting.