TRENTON, N.J. — The state Senate approved legislation Monday that would make New Jersey the first state to abolish the death penalty since the U.S. Supreme Court reinstated it in 1976.
With the support of the Democratic-controlled Assembly and the Democratic governor, the bill is expected to be signed into law within a month.
New Jersey has eight men on death row and hasn’t executed anyone since 1963.
Among the death-row inmates who would be spared is Jesse Timmendequas, a sex offender convicted of murdering 7-year-old Megan Kanka in 1994. That case sparked a state law requiring law enforcement agencies to notify the public of convicted sex offenders living in their communities. Other states soon followed suit.
Megan’s parents, Richard and Maureen Kanka, have sent a letter to legislators urging them to retain the death penalty: “The inmates currently on death row are the worst of the worst in our society, and to offer them the opportunity of life is a disgrace to their victims, the jurors that deliberated their fate and the majority of New Jersey residents who still support the death penalty.”
The effort to abolish capital punishment in New Jersey stems from a January report that found the death penalty was a more expensive sentence than life in prison and has not deterred murder.
