Trenton, N.J., Dec 18, 2007 / 12:07 pm
New Jersey has now become the first U.S. state in four decades to ban capital punishment, the Associated Press reports.
Governor Jon S. Corzine on Monday signed into law a measure that abolishes the death penalty in the state. The death sentence is replaced with life in prison without the possibility of parole.
"This is a day of progress for us and for the millions of people across our nation and around the globe who reject the death penalty as a moral or practical response to the grievous, even heinous, crime of murder," Corzine said.
Eight men were on the state’s death row. Governor Corzine commuted their sentences to life in prison without parole.