Capital punishment in New Jersey is currently abolished, after

Governor of New Jersey The governor of New Jersey is the head of government of New Jersey. The office of governor is an elected position with a four-year term. There is a two consecutive term term limit, with no limitation on non-consecutive terms. The official r ...

Jon Corzine Jon Stevens Corzine ( ; born January 1, 1947) is an American financial executive and retired politician who served as a United States Senator from New Jersey from 2001 to 2006 and the 54th governor of New Jersey from 2006 to 2010. Corzine ran fo ...

signed a law repealing it in 2007. Before this, capital punishment was used and at least 361 people have been executed.

Early history

It was in effect from 1982 to 2007, though no individuals were executed under the revised provision that covered cases of murder. At least 361 people have been officially executed in New Jersey (including the pre-

Revolution In political science, a revolution (Latin: ''revolutio'', "a turn around") is a fundamental and relatively sudden change in political power and political organization which occurs when the population revolts against the government, typically due ...

Colony of New Jersey The Province of New Jersey was one of the Middle Colonies of Colonial America and became the U.S. state of New Jersey in 1783. The province had originally been settled by Europeans as part of New Netherland but came under English rule after th ...

) starting with the execution of a slave named Tom for

rape Rape is a type of sexual assault usually involving sexual intercourse or other forms of sexual penetration carried out against a person without their consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority, or ...

in 1690 and ending with the execution of Ralph Hudson for murder on January 22, 1963. The last execution for a crime other than murder was of Andrew Clark in 1872 for rape. The last woman executed was Margaret Meierhoffer in 1881. Except for a dozen slaves executed by burning in the early 18th century, executions in

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

were by hanging until 1906 and

electrocution Electrocution is death or severe injury caused by electric shock from electric current passing through the body. The word is derived from "electro" and "execution", but it is also used for accidental death. The term "electrocution" was coine ...

since then, with the exception of a single execution by hanging in 1909. Following the 1963 execution, there were no executions prior to the 1972 ruling in ''

Furman v. Georgia ''Furman v. Georgia'', 408 U.S. 238 (1972), was a landmark criminal case in which the United States Supreme Court invalidated all then existing legal constructions for the death penalty in the United States. It was 5–4 decision, with each memb ...

'' by the Supreme Court of the United States, which led to a ''de facto'' ban on executions nationwide until laws meeting the revised standards specified could be enacted. The Supreme Court ruled in 1976 in ''

Gregg v. Georgia ''Gregg v. Georgia'', ''Proffitt v. Florida'', ''Jurek v. Texas'', ''Woodson v. North Carolina'', and ''Roberts v. Louisiana'', 428 U.S. 153 (1976), is a landmark decision of the U.S. Supreme Court. It reaffirmed the Court's acceptance of the use ...

'' that revised statutes were constitutional, though New Jersey did not pass revised legislation until 1982 which included anyone who "purposely or knowingly causes death" or someone who "contracts for the murder". Under the 1982 statute, there were 228 capital trials. Of the 60 cases in which juries returned a verdict for

capital punishment Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is the state-sanctioned practice of deliberately killing a person as a punishment for an actual or supposed crime, usually following an authorized, rule-governed process to conclude that t ...

, 57 were overturned and eight inmates remained on death row (in some cases an overturned death sentence results in a sentencing retrial, and another death sentence).Staff
NEW JERSEY DEATH PENALTY STUDY COMMISSION REPORT
State of

, January 2007. Accessed June 13, 2010. A series of bills was introduced in the Assembly in 1992 to make it harder for New Jersey courts to overturn death sentence convictions, including legislation that would prevent the introduction of evidence regarding the method used for

during trials, as part of an effort to close off "another avenue for overturning death-penalty sentences". In May 1996, Assembly member Gary Stuhltrager criticized efforts to delay the imposition of the death penalty, saying "If you're going to have it, do it".

2007 repeal

In December 2005, the New Jersey Senate passed a one-year moratorium on executions by the state, with a commission to determine that the system is efficient and equitable. The measure was passed by the legislature on January 10, 2006.

Richard Codey signed the measure into law on January 12. New Jersey became the first state to pass such a moratorium legislatively, rather than by executive order. Although New Jersey reinstated the death penalty in 1982, the state has not executed anyone since 1963. The abolition vote was recommended by a report from the New Jersey Death Penalty Study Commission. On December 17, 2007, following the passage of an abolition bill that passed in the General Assembly by a 44–36 margin, Governor

signed the bill, making New Jersey the 14th state without a death penalty and the first state to abolish it by legislative action rather than by judicial decision since ''Gregg v. Georgia''.Richburg, Keith B
"N.J. Approves Abolition of Death Penalty; Corzine to Sign"
''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...

'', December 14, 2007. Accessed June 13, 2010. All eight inmates on death row had their sentences subsequently commuted to life in prison without parole by Governor Corzine. The list included Jesse Timmendequas, whose rape and murder of his 7-year-old neighbor, Megan Kanka, led to the creation of

Megan's Law Megan's Law is the name for a federal law (and informal name for subsequent state laws) in the United States requiring law enforcement authorities to make information available to the public regarding registered sex offenders. Laws were creat ...

.Mears, Bill
"New Jersey lawmakers vote to abolish death penalty"
''

CNN CNN (Cable News Network) is a multinational cable news channel headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable news channel, and presently owned by ...

'', December 13, 2007. Accessed June 13, 2010. Other inmates who had been on New Jersey's death row at the time of abolition were John Martini, who kidnapped and killed a Bergen County businessman, and Brian Wakefield, who beat and stabbed an Atlantic City couple and set their bodies on fire.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Capital Punishment In New Jersey

New Jersey law

Early history

2007 repeal

See also

References