Members of New Jersey’s legislature have passed by a wide margin a bipartisan bill calling for the creation of a study commission to examine the cost, fairness and effects of capital prosecutions in that state. The bill had the support of key state legislators, including Republican Senator Robert Martin. Martin said that he believed it might be time for New Jersey to consider a complete ban on capital punishment, noting that the state’s review process “is so cumbersome and expensive” that New Jersey might be better off “with a punishment that was life imprisonment without parole.” Public opinion surveys show that many New Jerseyans agree with Martin. In a recent poll, public support for the death penalty drops to 36% when respondents are given the sentencing option of life without parole. Support for capital punishment in general has also sharply declined. According to the Eagleton Poll at Rutgers University, 76% of those questioned supported the death penalty in 1975, and in 1981, 73% stated support for the punishment. A 1999 poll revealed that support had declined to 63%. The study bill will now go to New Jersey Governor James McGreevey for his consideration and signature into law. (New York Times, December 14, 2003) Read the legislation. See Recent Legislative Activity.