[CUADPUpdate] steps 2 & 3

[Abraham J. Bonowitz]

Hi All,

Thanks to all of you who wrote after my "Step 1" message last 
week.  Tomorrow is a big day for us here in New Jersey with steps 2 
and 3 of a five final steps towards Abolition.  The Assembly Law and 
Public Safety Committee hearing starts at 10am, and the full Senate 
will take up the bill in its session starting at 2pm - we have no 
idea when they will put S-171 up for a vote.

Listen or view live proceedings at http://www.njleg.state.nj.us/Default.asp

IF we pass in both votes, then the final vote is expected to be the 
Assembly floor vote on December 13 - time has not yet been set.  If 
you are in the vicinity, I hope you will consider being with us on 
that day.  Meanwhile, here's looking for a very happy International 
Human Rights Day (Dec. 10)!!!   See http://www.un.org/events/humanrights/2007/

paz!

--abe


N.J. death penalty debate a struggle for many lawmakers

By TOM HESTER Jr.

Associated Press Writer

5:23 PM EST, December 8, 2007

TRENTON, N.J.

New Jersey Sen. Stephen Sweeney has been battling himself as he
contemplates whether to support a proposal to abolish the state's
death penalty.

"I've hung around most of my adult life being a proud supporter of
the death penalty, a proud supporter, believing an eye-for-an-eye,"
said Sweeney, D-Gloucester.

Politics pervades state legislatures, but some New Jersey lawmakers
find themselves struggling with their consciences as they debate the
death penalty. The reason: While many have supported capital
punishment, they realize New Jersey's death penalty law has been toothless.

New Jersey reinstated the death penalty in 1982 and has eight men on
death row, but hasn't executed anyone since 1963.

Yet after hearing testimony and studying the issue, Sweeney said he's
ready to support making New Jersey the first state to eliminate the
death penalty since the U.S. Supreme Court reinstated it 31 years ago.

"It has been an eye-opening experience because the false hope we give
families with the death penalty is wrong," he said. "It's wrong to
give false hope. I think this is the best thing to help families
bring closure to horrible, horrible incidents in their life."

The effort to abolish capital punishment in New Jersey stems from a
January report by a special state commission. It found the death
penalty was a more expensive sentence than life in prison and hasn't
deterred murder.

Sen. Martha Bark has been having a similar struggle as she considers
her death penalty vote.

The Burlington Republican recalls being a child and worrying for her
father's safety as she watched him leave for work as a police
officer. That memory, she said, has her leaning toward supporting the
death penalty.

The Senate is expected to vote on abolishing the death penalty on
Monday, and the state Assembly will vote on Thursday. Democrats who
control the Legislature expect the bill will pass, and Democratic
Gov. Jon S. Corzine supports abolishing the death penalty.

While the discussion seems to be falling largely along party lines,
with Democrats who control the Legislature supporting abolishment and
Republicans opposed, legislative leaders aren't dictating how
lawmakers must vote.

"Each Republican member of the Senate will be voting his or her
conscience," said Senate Minority Leader Leonard Lance, R-Hunterdon.

That has some legislators questioning long-held beliefs.

"When I first came into the Legislature, there was no doubt about it,
I was a proponent of the death penalty," said Sen. Paul Sarlo, D-Bergen.

No longer.

"I understand why the death penalty has not served the people of the
state well," Sarlo said, describing his upcoming vote as "probably
one of the most difficult votes I will take."

Sen. Joseph Vitale, D-Middlesex, said he's changed his viewpoint over
the years, once opposing the death penalty, then supporting it, but
again opposing it. He said he's studied the issue for weeks and
determined life in prison without parole a harsher sentence than death.

"That's a pretty good punishment for someone who has done something
so heinous," Vitale said.

Sen. Raymond Lesniak sponsors the bill to eliminate the death
penalty, though he voted to reinstate it in 1982.

He said he realizes that was a mistake and is relieved the state
hasn't executed anyone since his vote, deeming the state's law flawed.

"Thousands of murders have been committed in New Jersey since I voted
to reinstate the death penalty in 1982," said Lesniak, D-Union. "Only
a handful of those murders resulted in a death sentence. What makes
those sentenced to death different from the others? Nothing, other
than the sentence of death itself."

Like Bark, Sen. Nicholas Asselta is the child of a police officer.

"I watched my father strap on a firearm onto his side and then onto
his chest everyday as he went to work and wondering if he would come
back alive," said Asselta, R-Cumberland.

That memory, he said, shapes his support for the death penalty, a
vote he said will be delivered "on behalf of my father, being a
longtime police officer, and all the people in law enforcement,
inside an incarceration unit and outside protecting us."

Sen. Anthony Bucco, R-Morris, supports the death penalty and would
prefer the state's 80 Assembly members and 40 senators not struggle with it.

"Let the people of the state of New Jersey tell us what they think,"
Bucco said. "I think it's a very, very major step and I think we
should walk very, very lightly."

***********

Sent By:



Abraham J. Bonowitz
Field Manager, New Jerseyans for Alternatives to the Death Penalty
abe at njadp.org  *  http://www.NJADP.org
mobile: 561-371-5204  *  office: 609-278-6719  *  fax: 609-278-6859
986 S. Broad St., Trenton, NJ  08611