New Jersey Ends Death Penalty

New Jersey today became the first state to ban the death penalty in over 40 years, when Governor Jon Corzine signed a bill that commutes all death sentences in the state to sentences of life in prison without the possibility of parole. In announcing the signing of the bill, Governor Corzine declared that Monday was "a momentous day -- a day of progress -- for the State of New Jersey and for the millions of people across our nation and around the globe who reject the death penalty as a moral or practical response to the grievous, even heinous, crime of murder." The Associated Press reports that "the bill passed the [state] Legislature largely along party lines, with controlling Democrats supporting the abolition and minority Republicans opposed."

• Press Release on Bill Abolishing Death Penalty (Office of the Governor)
• Associated Press: N.J. Bans Death Penalty
• Capital Punishment and the Death Penalty (FindLaw)
• Stages of a Criminal Case: Sentencing (FindLaw)