N.J. May Ban Death Penalty

[Amazing Rando]

N.J. Senate moves to ban death penalty

Bill next goes to the state assembly, and then on to the governor to sign, if passed. NJ would be the first state to ban the death penalty since the US Supreme Court reinstated it, and the 14th without the death penalty on the books. NJ currently has 8 prisoners on death row, but has not executed anyone since the DP was reinstated in 1976.

[Meta Knight]

Well that would suck.

[Amazing Rando]

We'll see in a month or so. Corzine's said he'll sign the bill.

[Amazing Rando]

Elsewhere in the country...

Deathpenaltyinfo.org

 New York’s death penalty law was declared unconstitutional in 2004. Since then, the
last person has been removed from death row and the legislature has repeatedly
rejected all attempts to reinstate capital punishment.
 Illinois is in the eighth year of a death penalty moratorium, which was established in
2000 due to concerns about wrongful convictions.
 Death sentences in the United States have dropped by 60% since 1999. Even in
Texas, death sentences have dropped significantly during the past decade.
 Executions around the country are on hold as the U.S. Supreme Court prepares to
hear a case regarding the constitutionality of Kentucky’s lethal injection procedure.
 Legislative studies of the death penalty are underway in California, North Carolina,
and Tennessee.
 Public opinion polls show that life without parole is steadily replacing the death
penalty as the preferred punishment for murder.

© source where applicable

http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/NJpressrel.pdf

[Dee Dee Warren]

that's too bad

[Lazarus]

Good for New Jersey!

[Amazing Rando]

Good for New Jersey!

[shadowman]

good!

[Jimmy Higgins]

Well that would suck.

that's too bad

Yes, because the fact that when a victim is white, the death penalty is more likely (4 times more likely in Ohio) on the table should be the norm.

Fact is, numerous lawyer / court based studies have concluded that the death penalty system is not applied evenly in the justice system. The system, if used, must be level and applied fairly to everyone. It isn't right now.

[Meta Knight]

Yes, because the fact that when a victim is white, the death penalty is more likely (4 times more likely in Ohio) on the table should be the norm.

Fact is, numerous lawyer / court based studies have concluded that the death penalty system is not applied evenly in the justice system. The system, if used, must be level and applied fairly to everyone. It isn't right now.

And so the obvious solution, rather than, say, balancing it out, is to ban it altogether! Yeah!

[FlimFlamboyant]

Yes, because the fact that when a victim is white, the death penalty is more likely (4 times more likely in Ohio) on the table should be the norm.

How many whites are there in violent gangs as opposed to blacks? Have you ever considered the possibility that there are more blacks receiving the death penalty because a higher percentage of blacks are killing people? Of course not; the statistics only apply when justice is doled out, not when the crime is actually comitted, isn't that right?

I have an idea, and it's going to sound very racist to you left-wing, oversensitive types, but I'm going to say it anyway.

PERHAPS BLACK PEOPLE SHOULD STOP SHOOTING EACH OTHER.

There, I said it. It's a statistical fact; there are far more black people involved in violent crime than white people. This statistic increases dramatically as the population gets more dense, and the income level drops (this is true amongst any race, btw). Not so coincidentally, this also happens to be the case morseo in communities that are primarily black, as opposed to white.

OH, that's right; it's that damn, dirty white man, keeping the black man down, isnt it? That's why he's poor; that's why he then picks up a gun and shoots his own people. Do I have to ask you to think about just how incredibly stupid that sounds?

They have a word for gangs in Africa; they're called tribes. What we see here in this country that is continually glorified in movies and "music" videos is nothing more than tribal warfare. Can you blame them? Afterall, they're just doing what the left tells them they should be doing; getting back to their roots; celebrating the culture of their ancestors. Well, guess what? Sometimes there are certain elements of your ancestors' culture that just plain SUCK, and should be left behind. Gang/Tribal warfare is one of them.

The same goes for any race. I'm a white man, but I don't feel compelled to keep slaves just because my ancestors did. I also don't feel compelled to burn people whom I believe to be heretics.

The white man in this nation has changed his ways in many respects in order to create the prosperous and peaceful society that we have today. These black people you see involved in violent crimes don't need to hang on to their history; they need to let go of it. When they do, you'll start to see this disparity in convictions drop. Many have done so already, and have contributed greatly to American society, while the rest remain where they are, because that's where they're told they should be.

[Meta Knight]

Rando, I was being sarcastic.

[Amazing Rando]

PERHAPS BLACK PEOPLE SHOULD STOP SHOOTING EACH OTHER.

I don't think Jimmy would dispute that there is a higher percentage of crime in the inner cities (which are predominantly black) as compared to the lilly-white suburbs around many cities. The point he's trying to get at is that there is an inherent racism within the justice system as it is now configured with respect to the sentencing of convicted murderers. This has nothing to do with the numbers of black vs. white vs. Latino prisoners on death row, it has to do with the frequency that death sentences are handed to convicted murderers who happen to be minority race as compared to those who happen to be white.

What Jimmy was saying is that in Ohio, a black person convicted of murder is four times more likely to be sentenced to death than a white person convicted of murder. The white murderer is statistically far more likely to be sentenced to life in prison than is the black murder. That's the inherent inequity and racism in the capital punishment system as it is currently practiced, not simply the numbers on death row.

[Amazing Rando]

Rando, I was being sarcastic.

And I sarcastically amened your sarcasm.

[Meta Knight]

a white black person