The report, obtained by The Associated Press, found no compelling evidence that New Jersey's death penalty, which has not been used in more than four decades, serves any purpose. It also found the death penalty costs taxpayers more than paying for prisoners to serve life terms without parole.

"There is increasing evidence that the death penalty is inconsistent with evolving standards of decency," the report states.
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The findings, authored by a 13-member commission created in late 2005 by the Legislature, found abolishing the death penalty would eliminate the danger of executing an innocent person and the risk of the punishment being unfairly implemented.

"The alternative of life imprisonment in a maximum security institution without the possibility of parole would sufficiently ensure public safety and address other legitimate social and penological interests, including the interests of the families of murder victims," the report found.
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Celese Fitzgerald, director of New Jerseyans for Alternatives to the Death Penalty, praised the findings.

"I'm pleased that the commission found what the evidence has stated for two decades," she said, "that the death penalty is an outdated, risky, resource-straining hoax on victims' families and should be abolished."