New Jersey Poll Shows Dramatic Shift in Public Opinion

A recent poll of residents in New Jersey conducted by the Eagleton Institute of Politics at Rutgers University revealed that support for the death penalty has dropped considerably in the state, and that the majority of residents support a moratorium on executions until issues of accuracy, fairness and cost effectiveness can be examined. The following are among the poll's key findings:

When given the option of life without the possibility of parole as a sentencing alternative, 48% of New Jerseyans support a life sentence, while 36% support capital punishment. This is a reversal from 1999 polling results that showed that 44% of New Jerseyans then supported capital punishment and 37% favored life imprisonment when given the choice.

Six in 10 New Jerseyans support a moratorium on executions while the state's death penalty statues are reviewed.

A quarter of those surveyed say that they are more likely to vote for a candidate who supports a moratorium, while only 7% of those surveyed would be less likely to support him or her.

The New Jersey legislature is currently considering a bill that would create a one-year moratorium on executions while a Commission investigates potential flaws in the state's death penalty system

NEW JERSEYANS FOR A DEATH PENALTY MORATORIUM

MOST NEW JERSEYANS SUPPORT MORATORIUM ON THE DEATH PENALTY NEW EAGLETON POLL REPORTS

May 30, 2002

Sandra Manning

    TRENTON: Two-thirds of New Jerseyans (66%) support a moratorium on New Jersey's death penalty, according to a Rutgers Eagleton poll released today (May 30). Twenty-five percent of state voters polled say they are more likely to vote to reelect their representatives if they support a moratorium, while only  seven percent are less likely to do so. Sixty-four percent said the issue has no bearing on their voting intentions.

     While 60% of New Jersey residents still claim to be in favor of the death penalty, that number weakens significantly, if life without parole is offered as an alternative sentence. When given that possibility, more New Jersey residents (48%) favor life without parole, over a death sentence (36%). Additionally, of the group favoring capital punishment for murder (36%), when offered an additional choice of life without parole plus restitution to victims� families, 43% said they preferred life.

     This is a dramatic shift in public opinion since 1999, when only 37%  of New Jersey residents preferred life imprisonment to execution for murder. New Jerseyans' newly expressed preference for a life sentence places them above the national average, which an ABC news poll reported earlier this month to be 43% for life and 46% for death.

     New Jerseyans for a Death Penalty Moratorium (NJDPM) announced the Eagleton poll results Thursday during a State House news conference. NJDPM reports nearly 10,000 members statewide and the backing of 161 other civic, labor and justice organizations, including every major religion in New Jersey. All support N.J. Assembly Bill A-1913 and Senate

     Bill S-1112, which propose a one-year moratorium on executions and a study of the death penalty system here. The bills currently are stalled in each chamber's Judiciary Committee.

     "Whether they are for the death penalty or against it, a whopping two-thirds of N.J. residents (66%) support a one-year moratorium, while a commission studies our capital system for accuracy, fairness and cost effectiveness. Only 25% oppose it," said Sandra Manning, NJDPM Chair. "Even among death penalty supporters, 60% favor a moratorium."

     The study reported about half of pro-death penalty respondents said they became more likely to support a moratorium and study knowing that, in recent years, 101 Americans, wrongly convicted of murder and on death row, were found to be innocent.

     Other death penalty questions in the poll focused on costs and defendants' race, class and possible innocence. Seventy percent of respondents mistakenly believe that execution is cheaper than life imprisonment. Independent studies show that death penalty costs are $2 million to $4 million a year higher per execution than life sentences. Depending on the state, the total cost of incarceration for life is $400,000 to $850,000.

     "Our death penalty system costs nearly New Jersey taxpayers nearly $23 million annually over the cost of life in prison , money that could be used for crime prevention, drug rehabilitation and victim assistance programs," Manning said.

     The Eagleton poll indicates that nearly two-thirds of New Jerseyans believe a poor person is more likely to receive the death penalty than a person of means. More than half believe an African American is more likely to be sentenced to death than a white person, for the same crime.

     Patrick Murray, Project Director at the Rutgers Eagleton Institute of Politics Center for Public Interest Polling answered queries from the media at the news conference, along with Richard Dieter, executive director of the Washington-based Death Penalty Information Center.  Dieter is widely recognized as the nation's foremost expert on capital punishment. Other speakers included Larry Cirignano, president of the Washington-based Catholic Alliance, a conservative national pro-life movement.

     Also on hand were Ray Krone and James Landano.  Krone, of York, PA, became last month the 100th innocent Death Row inhabitant to be exonerated and freed, since the U.S. Supreme Court reinstated capital punishment. He served ten years in prison for rape and murder, before DNA evidence vindicated him. Landano, of Manville, N.J., was convicted of murdering a N.J. policeman and served 22 years in prison and under house arrest, before being acquitted of all charges.

     Landano was convicted before New Jersey reenacted the death penalty in 1982.

     "Had I been sentenced after that," says Landano, "I would have been executed by now."

     New Jersey is poised to execute its first citizen since capital punishment was reinstated within the next nine to18 months.