Death Penalty

With advances in DNA testing, any doubts that individuals have about the death penalty should disappear. Yet New Jersey’s ultra-liberal legislature is about to repeal our Death Penalty law and take away one more wedge our prosecutors have against vicious, sadistic and violent criminals.

If our legislators were repealing the Death Penalty out of pro-Life conviction it might be hard to argue with that decision. But they aren’t. Instead, New Jersey’s legislators, who consider our state’s extremist pro-abortion laws a badge of honor, are repealing the Death Penalty because they truly agree with the ACLU-pro criminal defense lawyer point of view.

I believe that even the prospect that a murderer can receive the Death Penalty is a deterrent, especially with the ability to catch criminals thanks to DNA. But even if the Death Penalty doesn’t deter murder it will always deter the murderer -- dead men cannot kill again.

New Jersey’s legislators should resist Governor Corzine’s politically correct call to eliminate the Death Penalty. Rather than gutting our Death Penalty law because the Supreme Court will not permit its enforcement, perhaps we should replace our Supreme Court members with those who respect the law, not men and women committed to blocking the law.

And if the Death Penalty is allegedly so unpopular, why not put repeal on the ballot? For the same reasons Governor Corzine and his liberal legislative lackeys won’t put same sex marriage on the ballot -- because their far-left views are the exact opposite of the majority of New Jersey voters.

Steve Lonegan is the Mayor of Bogota, NJ, and Executive Director of Americans for Prosperity - New Jersey. Americans for Prosperity (AFP) and Americans for Prosperity Foundation (AFP Foundation) are committed to educating citizens about economic policy and mobilizing those citizens as advocates in the public policy process. He is a prolific writer, having been published in newspapers and blogs. He just published a book, Putting Taxpayers First: A Blueprint for Victory in the Garden State, that discusses the impact of the Trenton government on the well being of the taxpayers of the state. He offers solid and workable solutions. Learn more at lonegan.com.