The Vote is in: Death Penalty Killed 44-36

All that's left is a signature from Governor Corzine and perhaps some shuffling of inmates. In an historic vote yesterday, which I was unable to cover due to the fact that I was in a Boeing 737 headed for Alaska when it occurred, and, to be quite honest, cell phone reception on those things is atrocious, the New Jersey Assembly voted to abolished the death penalty. Corzine has said he will make good on his promise to sign the bill into law "within the next week." After that, the New Jersey Department of Corrections will be tasked with shuffling prisoners around to accommodate the change in policy.

New Jersey is the first state to abolish the death penalty in the modern era of capital punishment; the most significant question now is whether this outright abolishment will turn the tide in the other states locked in a political, moral, and logistical struggle over the ultimate punishment. Most of those state have been covered in this very blog, such as Ohio, Massachusetts, New York, Pennsylvania, and even Kentucky. We're entering into a very new, interesting era with the potential to have an unprecedented historical impact on capital punishment worldwide. It's going to be a fun ride; I'll be watching the fate of the electric chair from my computer chair, and I think you should too.

How do Jerseyites Feel About All of This? Also, a Yale Study

In light of the recent furor in New Jersey over its probable abolishment of capital punishment, someone (i.e. Quinnipiac University) though it would be a good idea to actually poll the residents of the state on how they feel. The results were relatively unsurprising. 53% percent oppose ending capital punishment and 39% support its demise. These numbers are a little more anti-death penalty than the national average, which, according to Gallup, is typically in the 60s. This is not unusual for a relatively liberal Northeast state like New Jersey, but still shows that the lame-duck status of the current legislative session is relevant in protecting Garden State lawmakers from their constituents, to an extent.

Also in the Tri-State Area, a Yale Law School study has concluded that the death penalty in Connecticut is capriciously applied and racially imbalanced. Some highlights, courtesy of Newsday:

Black defendants receive death sentences at three times the rate of white defendants in cases where the victims were white.

Killers of white victims are treated more severely than people who kill minorities, when it comes time to decide the charges.

Minorities who kill whites receive death sentences at higher rates than minorities who kill minorities.

This may affect the ongoing suit filed years ago by nine Connecticut state death row inmates, all minorities who make claims similar to those in the report.

Both Committees and the Senate Down in New Jersey

Earlier today, the New Jersey state Legislature's Law and Public Safety Committee, the last of two committees I mentioned in the way of passing a law to repeal the New Jersey death penalty, approved the legislation. Even more importantly, the New Jersey Senate voted 21-16 to repeal New Jersey's capital punishment statues. The Senate was considered the more difficult of the two houses for the legislation to pass through; the NJ State Assembly votes next week, where Democrats hold sway 50-30. After its likely passage there, it will receive an even more likely signature from death penalty opponent Governor Corzine.

The Democrats have been the primary supporters of the legislation, but four Republican Senators crossed party lines in voting for it earlier today. Three of them are either retiring or defeated and, as a result, not returning to the Senate next term, freeing them from the possibility of feeling their pro-death penalty constituents' wrath. Some criticized the fact that the voting and debating on this issue took place in a lame-duck session, saying that it is underhanded to decide on such serious issues during this period, which some see as less than completely serious.

In any case, New Jersey has now set itself on a course to almost certainly abolish capital punishment within the week. It will be the first state to do so in the modern era, and indicates an unprecedented initiative by a legislative body (almost all previous restrictions of the death penalty have come from executive or judicial action). The legislative body is generally considered more a "body of the people" than the executive or judicial, so action by it against capital punishment may indicate more of a shift in attitudes among the hoi polloi than among the elites that comprise the upper two branches.

One Committee Down, One to Go in the Garden State

NJ Update: The Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee, one of the two committees I mentioned earlier that the bill to repeal New Jersey's death penalty needs to pass, has voted 8 to 4 in favor of the bill. Now one more committee, the Legislature's Assembly Law and Public Safety Committee, and then a senate- and legislature-wide votes stand in the way of this historic repeal. Lawmakers are predicting it will pas in both before receiving a rubber-stamp approval from Governor Corzine.

New Jersey's drive to abolish the death penalty is the most impactful happening in capital punishment legislation right now. Its implications are huge, as a rollback of the death penalty would be the first statewide abolishment in the modern era and could set off a legislative wave, conceivably leading to similar examinations and repeals in every state in the Union (most immediately, however, in the Northeast; it may take awhile to spread through the South and finally to Texas). It is impossible to underestimate the importance of this abolishment on the future of capital punishment in the United States.

The progress of this issue has long mirrored the progress of this blog, generating more posts and updates than any other issue. The consummation of this blog had been tentatively scheduled for the 12th of December, and the final vote on this issue is tentatively scheduled for the 13th. I have decided that the vote, which will likely represent an historic milestone in American capital punishment policy and attitudes, possibly the day the tide turned, will also signal the end of this blog. It's been illuminating, and I feel that the vote in New Jersey will signal both a fitting note to leave on and exciting new era in capital punishment policy. A new era, for new blogs.

NJ Gets Rolling

A quick update on the previous post about New Jersey rolling back the death penalty: the NJ state legislature seems like it's finally getting the ball rolling on the proposal to eliminate capital punishment in the state. There are two committees that stand in the way of an assembly- and Senate-wide vote on the bill, The Assembly Law and Public Safety Committee and a Senate budget panel. These committees will have both passed judgment by Thursday, and if the verdict is favorable, we will see a vote by the Assembly on December 13th, as well as Senate action around that time.

Blame Canada

A Canadian citizen on death row in Montana is appealing to his country's government to help him avoid execution. Ronald Allen Smith was convicted of two murders in 1983 and has been on Montana's death row (population: 2) ever since. He recently filed a suit with Canada's Federal Court which argues that the Canadian government's decision not to fight harder for a commutation of his sentence is wrong, even illegal. Canada has outlawed the death penalty and has called Montanan officials and requested a commutation of Smith's sentence before, to no avail. This case raises interesting moral and international implications. Once again, the United States' view on capital punishment is being contrasted with the world's wider consensus through a high-stakes international and, in this case, judicial showdown.

A Swing State in Flux

There are signs that the debate over the death penalty in Ohio is intensifying, from the American Bar Association report I mentioned in my October 15th post to an article questioning Ohio's application of the death penalty in the Akron Beacon Journal, printed yesterday. Now, Ohio clergy are gathering signatures for a letter to Democratic Ohio Governor Ted Strickland which condemns capital punishment in Ohio. The current situation is particularly politically interesting as it represents a convergence of opinion between the prominent religious factor in middle-American, swing state Ohio, which was given a large amount of credit in determining the 2004 Presidential Election, and the more liberal, democratic portions of the state. Both of these groups are opposed to the death penalty, and a "coalition" (I use the term loosely, informally, and only with respect to their views on capital punishment) like this in such a crucial electoral state could have very interesting ramifications on the upcoming 2008 Presidential Election.