FOR IMMEDIATE
RELEASE For
Information Contact
April
28, 2005 Celeste
Fitzgerald
973-635-6396
or 609-278-6719
NEW POLL SHOWS NEW JERSEYANS PREFER
LIFE IN PRISON WITHOUT PAROLE
OVER DEATH PENALTY
LEADING STATEWIDE GROUP SAYS RESULTS OF NEW
RUTGERS SURVEY
CONFIRM WEAKENING SUPPORT FOR STATE’S
“FAILED DEATH PENALTY SYSTEM”
Trenton --Nearly half
of all New Jersey residents prefer life prison without the possibility of
parole as the penalty for murder, with only one third choosing capital
punishment, according to a new
public opinion survey by the Bloustein Center for Survey Research at
Rutgers University. The poll, released
today by New Jerseyans for Alternatives to the Death Penalty (NJADP), indicates
a continuing erosion of public support for the death penalty in the Garden
State. Just six years ago, New
Jerseyans preferred the death penalty to life in prison without parole by 44%
to 37%. Today, 47% of New Jersey
citizens prefer life in prison with no chance of parole.
Support for the death penalty
declines even further – to less than 30% - when respondents are given the
choice between the death penalty and life without parole, plus payment of
restitution to the families of murder victims.
Significantly, the survey also
revealed that almost all New Jerseyans believe that innocent people are
sometimes convicted of murder, and that, when they consider the high cost of
prosecuting death penalty cases, 66% of respondents prefer that the money
instead be spent on crime prevention or services for victims’ families.
“When it comes to capital
punishment, New Jersey citizens could not be clearer,” said Celeste Fitzgerald,
Director of NJADP. “They prefer the
stronger, fairer, and more reliable penalty of life in prison without
possibility of parole.”
“Much has
changed since I voted to reinstate the death penalty twenty years ago,” said
Senator Raymond Lesniak (D-Union). “New
technologies such as DNA and other evidence have shown that people can make terrible
mistakes. It’s increasingly clear that
the very real risk of executing an innocent person, not to mention the expense
and effort of trying to get it right, has led New Jerseyans to turn away form
the death penalty.”
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Senator Robert Martin (R-Morris) agreed
that new information is driving the trend away from support for capital
punishment, “There is a growing recognition that the death penalty simply can’t
work. It’s a complex system that arbitrarily
selects defendants for death and creates more stress and appeals, even as it is
plagued by serious error. Each new
exoneration reminds us of the unacceptable possibility of wrongful
execution. It’s no wonder that this
poll shows people moving away from it.”
Fitzgerald noted that the New Jersey
numbers are consistent with other state and national surveys reflecting a
national trend. “The trend is certainly
going away from the death penalty as citizens learn more about the strong
alternative of life without parole and more about the death penalty
itself. We know that capital punishment
costs far more than life in prison, that it creates ongoing anguish for
victims’ families, that it diverts scarce resources from other critical
programs, and that it risks executing the innocent. New Jerseyans would rather see the vast resources spent on the
death penalty used to help victims’ families.”
NJADP commissioned the Bloustein
Center to conduct an independent statewide survey of New Jersey residents to
assess opinions on capital punishment.
The survey involved telephone interviews conducted April 5-11, 2005 with
a random probability sample of 801 residents 18 years old and older. The poll had a margin for error of 3.5
percent, and its results mirror those from a survey conducted by the Eagleton
Institute of Politics’ Center for Public Interest Polling three years ago.
Legislation has been introduced in
both the State Senate and the General Assembly to replace the State’s death
penalty system. Assemblyman Wilfredo
Caraballo has authored A-3569, and Senators Raymond Lesniak and Robert Martin
have introduced S-1212.
Just last month, during Holy Week, the US
Catholic Conference of Bishops announced a new national campaign to end the
death penalty in the United States.
That same month, a New York Assembly committee rejected a bill that
would have reinstated New York’s death penalty after more than 170 people,
nearly all of whom opposed the death penalty, testified at five public hearings
throughout the state.
Since
New Jersey reinstated the death penalty in 1982, nearly 70 percent of all New
Jersey capital sentences have been reversed for serious error. According to the Death Penalty Information
Center in Washington DC, 119 innocent people have been exonerated from death
rows nationally since 1977 – roughly one for every eight executed. New
Jersey has not executed anyone in over four decades.
NJADP, which has campaigned since
1999 for an end to the death penalty, is core group of more than 200 New Jersey
organizations that oppose capital punishment.
NJADP has over 10,000 members statewide. The survey is available at www.njadp.org or by calling
609-278-6719.
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