New Jersey has just become “the first [state] in a generation to abolish capital punishment.” In signing the law into effect, Governor Corzine expressed the hope that New Jersey can serve as a model for other states. Read the story.
Tags: Death Penalty
For more reports and comments I recommend this article from CBS News: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/12/17/national/main3624792.shtml
where additional stories and issues about capital punishment are available too.
There is also interesting interview expected to be broadcasted in “World News with Charles Gibson” tonight (available on online after 4:00 p.m. EDT at ABC News network :In a rare interview, a former executioner for the state of Virginia who administered more than 60 executions, shares his thoughts on the death penalty. Is lethal injection or the electric chair more ethical? Jim Avila reports on one of the first times an executioner has spoken on camera.
The death penalty is wrong. Putting a criminal to death nothing helps and nothing changes. It is not a way to prevent people from committing serious crimes. It is a good sign, just before Christmas, that New Jersey decided to abolish death penalty. we can only hope and pray that other states will do the same. Perhaps one day U.S.A will join so many other countries, e.g. European Union where death penalty is illegal.
There is God, the Creator and Judge who can give and take away human life. There is no excuse for societies where a court and law can decide if someone can live or not.
This is additional information found today in Reuters Alertnet news service:
UNITED NATIONS, Dec 18 (Reuters) – The U.N. General Assembly passed a nonbinding resolution on Tuesday calling for a moratorium on the death penalty, overcoming protests from a bloc of states that said it undermined their sovereignty.
The resolution, which calls for “a moratorium on executions with a view to abolishing the death penalty,” was passed by a 104 to 54 vote, with 29 abstentions.
“The resolution is not an interference, but we call on each member state of the United Nations to implement the resolution and also to open a debate on the death penalty,” Italian Foreign Minister Massimo D’Alema said after the vote.
“The moratorium is an important opportunity for international debate,” he told reporters. Italy, speaking on behalf of the EU, was a strong proponent of the resolution.
Two similar moves in the 1990s failed in the assembly. The resolution’s text stops short of an outright demand for immediate abolition; it carries no legal force but backers say it has powerful moral authority.
Among nations who voted against were Egypt, Iran, Singapore, the United States and a bloc of Caribbean states.
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N18498859.htm