Patterico's Pontifications

12/15/2007

New Jersey Bans Death Penalty

Filed under: Constitutional Law — DRJ @ 2:29 pm



[Guest post by DRJ]

New Jersey has banned the death penalty and the New York Times’ editors think it’s about time:

“It took 31 years, but the moral bankruptcy, social imbalance, legal impracticality and ultimate futility of the death penalty has finally penetrated the consciences of lawmakers in one of the 37 states that arrogates to itself the right to execute human beings.”

Leave it to the Times to be the best at everything. It’s hard to write a more arrogant and condescending sentence than that.

— DRJ

11 Responses to “New Jersey Bans Death Penalty”

  1. Just living in New Jersey counts as the death penalty.

    Jim Treacher (5e5b1e)

  2. I’m glad I live in Texas.

    Joe M. (db09f2)

  3. I’m happy that the Garden State eliminated capital punishment the proper way: by a vote of the people’s elected representatives in the state legislature, rather than bu some unelected judge’s fiat.

    Of course, even though New Jersey had capital punishment on the books, and a few prisoners on death row, no one has actually been executed in New Jersey since 1963.

    Dana (556f76)

  4. Hmmm, 1963, eh? Sounds like at least some of those unelected judges did some fancy fiating for about 44 years until enough NYT approved pols finally broke through to the morally superior light at the end of the Holland Tunnel. Must get pretty old always being the NYC’s Tijuana.

    allan (dbb261)

  5. I’m happy that the Garden State eliminated capital punishment the proper way:

    I’m not. A more fair and representative way would have been to put it on the ballot and allow NJ voters to make the decision.

    tired (2e7c68)

  6. NJ Repeals Death Penalty – Sentences Childres to Death.

    At the same time as they repealed the death penatly the mandated the injecting of children with flue vaccine.

    davod (5bdbd3)

  7. Hey, Tony Soprano will take care of any problems.

    MOG (f57a20)

  8. Any word on what NJ State Attorneys/District Attorneys think of all this?

    Any prosecutors resign over this?

    Horatio (f61519)

  9. Why would anyone resign their jobs over this? And for the record, polls indicate that the vast majority, nearly 80%, of NJ state residents still support the death penalty. Thank God in California they have the referendum system and our marxist legislature could not get away with this crap.

    tired (cd0e7b)

  10. I read, in an article about this vote, that they haven’t put anyone down in NJ since 1963. So in essence they haven’t had the death penalty in over 40 years.

    MOG (f57a20)

  11. In practical terms it seems like a pretty meaningless gesture, so it’s a political slam-dunk. It just codifies the existing situation.

    Eric (09e4ab)


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