New Jersey to ban death penalty

2007-12-13 19:06

James Hossack

New York - New Jersey is expected on Thursday to become the first US state in four decades to vote to abolish the death penalty, in a move hailed by human rights activists as a step towards ending capital punishment.

The state's senate voted this week to ban executions in favour of a life term in jail without parole and the measure was expected to easily pass through the state's Democrat-controlled general assembly in a vote on Thursday.

Bill a 'historic event'

The bill then just needs to be signed by Democratic governor Jon Corzine, who has repeatedly expressed support for the measure and has vowed to sign it into the north-eastern state's laws by January.

David Fathi, director of the US programme at Human Rights Watch, described the likely passage of the bill as a "historic event.

"For the first time in over 40 years the elected representatives of a major American state are definitively saying no to the death penalty," he said. Iowa and West Virginia were the last states to vote to abolish executions in 1965.

"It is a very significant event for a state that has had the death penalty on its books for decades. It's one more indication that the death penalty is on its way out in the United States,"said Fathi.

Although New Jersey has not executed anyone since 1963, it still has eight people on death row and came close to executing a prisoner two years ago, said Joshua Rubenstein, north-east regional director of Amnesty International USA.

Little more than token display

It was one of the states to reinstall the death penalty after the US Supreme Court overturned an earlier ban in 1976 but has observed a freeze on executions since 2005 along with nearly two dozen other states.

However, Rubenstein dismissed the notion that a ban by New Jersey would be little more than a token display.

"This is more than just a symbolic gesture," he said. "If the vote is taken and it passes and the governor signs it, death row will be closed down.

"Unfortunately in our society murders will continue to happen but the state will no longer have the option of sentencing someone to death and that chapter, I hope, will be closed, at least at the state level in New Jersey."

- SAPA