With 13 people on death row in New Jersey and against...

With 13 people on death row in New Jersey and against the hopes of death penalty opponents, the state Assembly postponed a planned vote on a creating a commission to study executions in the Garden State.
The current proposal dropped a provision in the original bill calling for a temporary suspension of all executions. The study would examine whether death penalty is cheaper than prison sentences, if it is applied fairly, how effective the appeals process is and whether it is ethical.
Lawmakers are now slated to vote January 13.
"I think anytime you take a person's life, and it may be with good reason, you've got to make sure everything worked right. You've got to make sure it's fair and just," said Assemblyman John Burzichelli, D-Paulsboro. "I think now is the time to revisit all of that."
Death penalty opponents New Jerseyans for a Death Penalty Moratorium, which has been active on behalf of the measure, have said the sanction risks the innocent being put to death.
"Aside from the moral issues ... we need the study and a moratorium because the system is broken in so many ways," said Lois Teer Seeligsohn, spokeswoman for NJDPM. "The death penalty does not work. It does none of the things the originators thought it was going to do."According to Seeligsohn, the cost of executing a prisoner is four times that of issuing a life sentence.
Gov. James E. McGreevey has not ruled on the bill, according to spokeswoman Ellen Mellody. She said McGreevey will not make a formal ruling until the bill has cleared both houses of the state Legislature.
Under the bill, no executions would take place until the commission reports back.