PANEL IN NEW JERSEY RECOMMENDS ABOLISHING DEATH PENALTY

A legislative commission recommended on Tuesday that New Jersey become the first state to abolish the death penalty since states began reinstating their capital punishment laws 35 years ago. Further: Its report found “no compelling evidence” that capital punishment serves a legitimate purpose, and increasing evidence that it “is inconsistent with evolving standards of decency” (New York Times). In place of capital punishment the commission report recommends life imprisonment without the possibility for parole. New Jersey’s last execution was in 1963 and currently has nine men on death row. The article cites a 2006 nationwide Gallup poll that found Americans almost evenly divided on the issue of capital punishment. Meanwhile the BBC reports that Italy is set to campaign at the U.N. for a global ban on the death penalty.