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NJ on Verge of Abolishing Death Penalty

Posted Dec 13, 07 6:32 PM CST in Politics,  US 

(Newser) – New Jersey's state assembly passed a bill today to abolish the death penalty, and Gov. Jon Corzine says he'll sign it into law within a week, the AP reports. Proponents of the bill, mainly Democrats, say the death penalty costs more than life imprisonment and can claim innocent victims; Republicans say the bill denies justice to families of murder victims.

"We would be better served as a society by having a clear and certain outcome for individuals that carry out heinous crimes," said Corzine, whose state would be the first in 42 years to abolish the death penalty. The bill, one GOP lawmaker countered, represents "a victory for murderers and rapists. It does not benefit families. … It does not benefit justice."

Source Associated Press

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New Jersey Assemblyman Wilfredo Caraballo, D, 29th Legislative District, speaks at the statehouse in Trenton, N.J., Thursday, Dec. 13, 2007. He co-sponsored a measure to abolish the state's death penalty....   (Associated Press)
Inmate Robert O. Marshall speaks to the Associated Press Thursday Dec. 13, 2007, in a lawyers conference room at the maximum security New Jersey State Prison in Trenton, N.J. Marshall was the dean of...   (Associated Press)
New Jersey Assemblyman Richard A. Merckt, R, 25th Legislative District, speaks at the statehouse in Trenton, N.J., Thursday, Dec. 13, 2007. He opposed a measure to abolish the state's death penalty ....   (Associated Press)
New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine appears on ABC's "This Week" in Washington Sunday, Oct. 7, 2007. Corzine says he'll sign into a law a measure abolishing the death penalty in his state. (AP Photo/ABC,...   (Associated Press)
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