End the Death Penalty

End to death penalty is urged - Los Angeles Times

A blue-ribbon commission recommended Tuesday that New Jersey abolish the death penalty and urged legislators to replace it with the sentence of life without parole.

The 13-member commission said the costs of the death penalty are greater than the costs of life in prison without parole and concluded that abolition of the death penalty "will eliminate the risk" of uneven sentencing in capital cases.

In addition, the commission said "the penological interest in executing a small number of persons guilty of murder is not sufficiently compelling to justify the risk of making an irreversible mistake."