That's the title of an article in Monday's Newark Star-Ledger, one year after the state abolished its death penalty. It's written by Rudy Larini. LINK
State Sen. Raymond Lesniak likes to share important moments in life with friends and family through photographs on his holiday greeting cards.
Four years ago, they featured Lesniak in top hat and tails as grand marshal of New York's Pulaski Day parade. Last year, there was a 2-year-old boy with cerebral palsy, the son of a drug addict, who was being adopted by friends.
This year's card captures the image of Gov. Jon Corzine signing the repeal of New Jersey's capital punishment law one year ago this week, a bill Lesniak sponsored. New Jersey became the first state to repeal the death penalty through legislation since the U.S. Supreme Court reinstated capital punishment in 1976.
"It was momentous. I believe it was one of the most significant achievements of my life and I wanted to celebrate it with my friends," said Lesniak (D-Union), who wrote a book about the bill.
A year later, prosecutors and defense lawyers agree the demise of the death penalty has had no discernible impact on the way would-be capital cases are prosecuted in New Jersey.
And while the philosophical debate over the death penalty has not changed, some say a new law that has prison without parole as the most severe penalty is better than a capital punishment law with what seemed like an unending appeals process. Since the state reinstated capital punishment in 1982, there were no executions, even though 60 defendants had been sentenced to death.
"I don't think it's made much of a difference at all other than that some of the cases that were languishing out there are now getting tried," said Richard Pompelio, executive director of the New Jersey Crime Victims Law Center. "The important thing for crime victims is that the process have an end, and with the death penalty there never was an end."
During the debate over repeal, there was concern that removing the threat of the death penalty would impede prosecutors' ability to negotiate pleas, but that has not materialized, according to prosecutors. Three of 23 capital punishment cases pending at the time of repeal have resulted in guilty pleas.
And:
No state has followed New Jersey's lead in abolishing capital punishment, though repeal measures in Maryland, New Mexico, Montana and Colorado, have come close, according to Richard Dieter, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center. He predicted Maryland's repeal would be approved early next year.
Earlier coverage of New Jersey abolition begins with this post. New Jersey State Senator Lesniak is the author of The Road to Abolition: How New Jersey Abolished Its Death Penalty.
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