P R E S S   R E L E A S E
from
F L O R I DI A N S   FOR   A L T E R N A T I V E S
               TO THE DEATH PENALTY   (FADP)


15 December 2005

CONTACT: Abe Bonowitz: 800-973-6548

New Jersey Senate passes bill to suspend executions

Bipartisan vote is part of growing national trend away from the death penalty

The New Jersey Senate this afternoon voted 30 - 6 to suspend all executions 
in the state and establish a study commission to examine flaws in the death 
penalty system.  The study commission will also look at whether or not the 
death penalty is worth maintaining at all in the face of mounting concerns 
about its exorbitant costs and inaccuracies in its application.

"The New Jersey Senate joins the growing list of Floridians and other 
Americans who recognize that the death penalty simply does not work," said 
Abe Bonowitz, Director of Floridians for Alternatives to the Death 
Penalty.  "Any thorough examination will reveal that system fails on all 
counts.  It risks executing the innocent, is unfairly applied, fails 
victims and law enforcement, and wastes millions of taxpayer dollars.  It 
is time for a "Time-Out" on executions in Florida also."

The moratorium bill was the first in the country to pass with bipartisan 
sponsorship. It now moves to the Assembly for a scheduled January vote.  If 
the bill passes the Assembly and the governor signs it as expected, New 
Jersey will become the first state to legislatively mandate a suspension of 
executions.  Illinois continues to operate under a moratorium ordered by 
former governor George Ryan (R), and Maryland briefly suspended executions 
as the result of an order from former Governor Parris Glendening (D).

Last month a new report by New Jersey Policy Perspective found that New 
Jersey's death penalty has cost taxpayers over a quarter billion dollars 
more than a system where life without parole was the maximum sentence since 
1982.  In Florida we have spent more than $1 billion since the death 
penalty was reinstated in 1972, for a net result of 60 executions.  A study 
by the Palm Beach Post found that the state would save a minimum of $51 
million annually by doing away with the death penalty and depending 
exclusively on life without parole for capital crimes.

New Jersey's action comes amidst a growing chorus concern about the death 
penalty across the country.   Here in Florida, 25 people have been 
exonerated from death row.  Several weeks ago Virginia Governor and likely 
presidential candidate Mark Warner (D) commuted the death sentence of Robin 
Lovitt to life without parole after DNA evidence was destroyed.  Warner, a 
death penalty supporter who has carried out 11 executions, admitted that 
sometimes the normal procedures of the courts are not enough to ensure 
fairness in the judicial system.

Texas prosecutors recently reopened the case of Ruben Cantu after the 
Houston Chronicle ran an investigative series that revealed Cantu was 
likely innocent.  Cantu, who was a juvenile at the time of the crime, was 
executed in 1993.  In Missouri prosecutors are re-investigating the case of 
Larry Griffin, who was executed in 1995, in light of strong evidence that 
he, too, was innocent.

Anti-death penalty candidates won the only two governor's races in 2005, in 
Virginia and New Jersey.  The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops issued a 
statement last month restating their opposition to the death penalty and 
noting deep and irrevocable flaws in the system.  Voices ranging from the 
editorial board of Alabama's largest newspaper to the President of the 
Ethics and Religious Liberties Commission of the Southern Baptist 
Convention have expressed new concerns about capital 
punishment.  Legislatures in California and North Carolina have both 
commissioned studies of the death penalty, and the New Mexico House of 
Representatives voted to abolish the death penalty altogether.

"Floridians, along with Americans in general, are recognizing more and more 
that we are better off without the death penalty," Bonowitz said.  "New 
Jersey's problems are not unique.  Florida leads the nation in wrongful 
convictions, and we have our share of incompetent lawyers, racial bias, and 
other systemic problems."


For more information on Florida's death penalty, visit www.FADP.org.

For information on New Jersey's death penalty, visit www.njadp.org.

For information on the national movement to suspend executions, visit 
www.ejusa.org.

For general information on the death penalty, visit www.deathpenaltyinfo.org.

  ###

SENT BY:

Abraham J. Bonowitz
Director


           Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty (FADP)

           800-973-6548    http://www.fadp.org    <fadp@fadp.org>
                 PMB 335, 2603 DR. Martin Luther King Jr. Hwy
	                      Gainesville, FL  32609

Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty works for restorative
justice in the form of effective alternatives to the death penalty.  It
does so by
     # supporting and coordinating the work of organizations and individuals
     # educating and energizing the general public and state legislators
     # supporting the many persons affected by capital crime and punishment
     # advocating specific legislative improvements