Post by Anja on Jun 10, 2006 20:27:24 GMT -5
Death penalty study will need more time
It's been 43 years since New Jersey executed anyone, a fact that prompted
lawmakers to form a special commission to study Garden State executions.
In its 1st meeting Friday, commission members decided that they, too,
needed more time.
The law that created the commission gave it until Nov. 15 to give
recommendations to Gov. Corzine and the legislature on whether the state's
death penalty law needed to be revised or even abolished.
But the Rev. M. William Howard Jr., the commission chairman, said that's
not enough time to organize a schedule, hold public hearings and listen to
experts.
"We shouldn't rush with this," said Howard, pastor at Bethany Baptist
Church in Newark.
He said the group would ask the legislature for an extension. Attorney
General Zulima V. Farber, a commission member, suggested the panel ask for
an additional 3 months. She said that would allow the commission to work
but not delay pending cases that could involve the death penalty.
The group was formed earlier this year to study capital punishment in a
state that reinstated the death penalty in 1982, but hasn't executed
anyone since 1963. The state has 10 men on death row, but the legislation
that created the commission imposed a moratorium on executions until 60
days after the panel completes its work.
Sharon Hazard-Johnson, whose parents were killed in their Pleasantville
home in 2001 by death row inmate Brian P. Wakefield, attended the hearing
and said she was worried.
"I am very concerned that this is a bid to abolish the death penalty," she
said. "I hope they can be fair and square."
The commission was formed to study whether the state's death penalty law
is fairly applied, how much it costs, whether it deters crime and if it
should be abolished.
Corzine, a Democrat, opposes the death penalty. He is the first elected
New Jersey governor to oppose it since Brendan Bryne, who left office in
January 1982.
Last year, New Jersey Policy Perspective, a liberal think tank, said the
state had spent $253 million in the last 23 years on a death penalty that
hasn't been used.
(source: Associated Press)
It's been 43 years since New Jersey executed anyone, a fact that prompted
lawmakers to form a special commission to study Garden State executions.
In its 1st meeting Friday, commission members decided that they, too,
needed more time.
The law that created the commission gave it until Nov. 15 to give
recommendations to Gov. Corzine and the legislature on whether the state's
death penalty law needed to be revised or even abolished.
But the Rev. M. William Howard Jr., the commission chairman, said that's
not enough time to organize a schedule, hold public hearings and listen to
experts.
"We shouldn't rush with this," said Howard, pastor at Bethany Baptist
Church in Newark.
He said the group would ask the legislature for an extension. Attorney
General Zulima V. Farber, a commission member, suggested the panel ask for
an additional 3 months. She said that would allow the commission to work
but not delay pending cases that could involve the death penalty.
The group was formed earlier this year to study capital punishment in a
state that reinstated the death penalty in 1982, but hasn't executed
anyone since 1963. The state has 10 men on death row, but the legislation
that created the commission imposed a moratorium on executions until 60
days after the panel completes its work.
Sharon Hazard-Johnson, whose parents were killed in their Pleasantville
home in 2001 by death row inmate Brian P. Wakefield, attended the hearing
and said she was worried.
"I am very concerned that this is a bid to abolish the death penalty," she
said. "I hope they can be fair and square."
The commission was formed to study whether the state's death penalty law
is fairly applied, how much it costs, whether it deters crime and if it
should be abolished.
Corzine, a Democrat, opposes the death penalty. He is the first elected
New Jersey governor to oppose it since Brendan Bryne, who left office in
January 1982.
Last year, New Jersey Policy Perspective, a liberal think tank, said the
state had spent $253 million in the last 23 years on a death penalty that
hasn't been used.
(source: Associated Press)