Post by Anja Nieser on Sept 12, 2006 20:35:44 GMT -5
Panel to assess death penalty's cost
The cost of the state's seldom-used death penalty will dominate debate at
the Legislature this week as relatives of murder victims get their say.
A death penalty study commission is scheduled to meet Wednesday to take
testimony from witnesses, including relatives of murder victims. Officials
want to hear whether there is a major cost difference between the death
penalty and life in prison without parole.
The special commission formed last year has until mid-November to give
recommendations on whether New Jersey's capital punishment law needs to be
either revised or abolished. The state has 10 men on death row, but the
law that created the commission imposed a moratorium on executions until
60 days after the panel completes its work.
No execution was imminent. New Jersey reinstated the death penalty in 1982
but hasn't used it since 1963.
Sharon Hazard-Johnson, whose parents were killed in their Pleasantville
home in 2001 by death row inmate Brian Wakefield, has been wary of the
commission's work.
"I am very concerned that this is a bid to abolish the death penalty," she
said.
Death penalty foes hope that will happen. New Jerseyans for Alternatives
to the Death Penalty recently released a report that detailed how 25 New
Jerseyans were convicted of crimes they didn't commit.
As the commission debates the death penalty, property tax reform talks
also are to continue at the Statehouse, with lawmakers expected to discuss
regional taxation and shared services.
The committee mulling whether the state can save money by consolidating
its hundreds of local governments is slated to meet Wednesday to discuss
delivering local services on a regional basis.
Senate Majority Leader Bernard F. Kenny, D-Hudson, said the committee
studying whether the state's constitution should be amended to provide
property tax relief will consider whether New Jersey should replace local
property taxes with statewide or regional property taxes.
The committee studying school funding plans to examine how state and
federal legal mandates influence school property taxes, while the panel
studying public worker benefits plans to study health benefits for
government workers.
(source: Associated Press)
The cost of the state's seldom-used death penalty will dominate debate at
the Legislature this week as relatives of murder victims get their say.
A death penalty study commission is scheduled to meet Wednesday to take
testimony from witnesses, including relatives of murder victims. Officials
want to hear whether there is a major cost difference between the death
penalty and life in prison without parole.
The special commission formed last year has until mid-November to give
recommendations on whether New Jersey's capital punishment law needs to be
either revised or abolished. The state has 10 men on death row, but the
law that created the commission imposed a moratorium on executions until
60 days after the panel completes its work.
No execution was imminent. New Jersey reinstated the death penalty in 1982
but hasn't used it since 1963.
Sharon Hazard-Johnson, whose parents were killed in their Pleasantville
home in 2001 by death row inmate Brian Wakefield, has been wary of the
commission's work.
"I am very concerned that this is a bid to abolish the death penalty," she
said.
Death penalty foes hope that will happen. New Jerseyans for Alternatives
to the Death Penalty recently released a report that detailed how 25 New
Jerseyans were convicted of crimes they didn't commit.
As the commission debates the death penalty, property tax reform talks
also are to continue at the Statehouse, with lawmakers expected to discuss
regional taxation and shared services.
The committee mulling whether the state can save money by consolidating
its hundreds of local governments is slated to meet Wednesday to discuss
delivering local services on a regional basis.
Senate Majority Leader Bernard F. Kenny, D-Hudson, said the committee
studying whether the state's constitution should be amended to provide
property tax relief will consider whether New Jersey should replace local
property taxes with statewide or regional property taxes.
The committee studying school funding plans to examine how state and
federal legal mandates influence school property taxes, while the panel
studying public worker benefits plans to study health benefits for
government workers.
(source: Associated Press)