NJ Bans the Death Penalty

Today, New Jersey Governer Jon Corzine signed into law the historic state legislation which bans the death penalty.

Both New Jersey's assembly and senate approved the measure, which replaces death by lethal injection with life imprisonment without chance of parole.

Although there had been much ire about the move - which on paper spares death row inmates like child sex killer Jesse Timmendequas - in reality all the legislation did was legitimise a de facto ban on capital punishment. No inmate has been put to death in New Jersey since 1963.

The death penalty is one of the biggest contradictions in American society. To many, the very existence of capital punishment undermines the United State's place as 'leader of the free world.'

In the European Union, vocal critics of the death penalty point out that 'capital punishment is incompatible with a civilised society' and cite that membership requirements of the European Union include a total ban on capital punishment.

Supporters of the death penalty claim that convicted murders and terrorists cost the tax payer thousands of dollars every year by keeping them locked up - and the death penalty ensures that the guilty will never re-offend.

However, I believe the ban on the death penalty is a good thing. While convicted offenders might deserve to die (or, rather, not deserve to live) it's a very hypocritical society that considers itself authorised to kill them.

New Jersey votes on the Death Penalty

Today, New Jersey's state government begins deciding on the landmark legislation that would ban the death penalty.

The law, which would spare the eight men on New Jersey's death row (including child sex killer Jesse Timmendequas) is groundbreaking because it would be the first time one of the States of the Union had opted out of capital punishment since the Supreme Court first reinstated it.

The bill is likely to go through. New Jersey is a traditionally liberal state and the senate has a democratic majority (New Jersey's governer, John Corzine, is also a democrat.) In addition, the current death penalty law in New Jersey is essentially meaningless. Nobody's been put to death in this state since 1963.

But there are outspoken critics of the proposed abolishment. No voices are louder than those of the Kanka family, who lost their daughter Megan in 1994 to registered sex offender Jesse Timmendequas, (sparking the controversial Megan's Law.)

"If there is any individual that deserves the death penalty, it's the animal that did this to Megan," they wrote, regarding the proposed law. "To abolish it would be an injustice to our family."

But is that true?

After all, even if the Death Penalty was to be maintained in New Jersey, it hasn't been realised in almost 45 years. The Kankas can fight to bring this proposed abolishment crashing down - but it doesn't mean Jesse Timmendequas will ever feel the sting of a lethal injection.

There is already a de facto ban on the death penalty. All this proposed legislation is doing is legitimising it.

And that's no bad thing.