New Jersey took its first legislative step today toward becoming the first US state to abolish executions since the US Supreme Court reinstated them in 1976.
The state Senate's judiciary committee voted by eight to two in favor of a bill to abolish capital punishment.
If -- as predicted by some Democratic lawmakers -- the rest of the Democratic-controlled legislature approves the measure, life in prison without the possibility of parole would become the most severe punishment meted out in the state.
Twelve other states already ban the death penalty.
New Jersey's Democratic Gov. Jon Corzine is opposed to capital punishment and has said he will sign any such bill.
Executions are rare in New Jersey, and throughout the Northeast, where four states are already among those without the death penalty. The state last put a criminal to death in 1963, and it imposed a moratorium on executions in late 2005, pending the outcome of a study.
As of January 1, there were 11 people on death row in New Jersey, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.