Capital Punishment Charade

Mr. Codey, who sponsored legislation in the early 1980s that reinstated New Jersey’s death penalty, said the system plays a cruel hoax on murder victims’ families by giving them the false hope of an execution.

“The best thing to do for us as a society to do is to be honest with them,” said Mr. Codey, who more recently served as governor. “Don’t tell someone that we’re going to execute somebody when the reality is it’s not going to happen — at least here in the state of New Jersey. Maybe in Texas. Maybe in other states. But it’s not going to happen here in New Jersey, and we’ve got to accept that.”

New Jersey is heading to repeal the death penalty, and would become the first state since the death penalty was resurrected nationwide in 1976.

New Jersey has not executed a convicted felon since 1963, which is why this is such a farce. This move is out of symbolism and nothing more, which is the thrust of Codey's comments. Of course, honesty and the New Jersey legislature are words that have never quite gone together.

With all the other woes facing the state, this is what Trenton decides to spend time debating.