List of people executed in New Jersey
 | This article needs additional citations for verification. (June 2007) |
No one has been executed by the state of New Jersey since 1963, although a statute reinstating capital punishment for murder has been in force since 1982. Historically, at least 361 people were executed by the state between the execution of a slave named Tom for rape in 1690 and the execution of Ralph Hudson for murder on January 22, 1963. Of those executions, 187 occurred in the 20th century. The last execution for a crime other than murder (or conspiracy to murder) was of Andrew Clark in 1872 for rape. The last woman executed was Margaret Meierhoffer in 1881. Except for a dozen slaves executed by burning in the early 1700s, executions in New Jersey were by hanging until 1906 and electrocution since then, with the exception of an execution by hanging in 1909.
In 2006, New Jersey lawmakers drafted a moratorium on executions while a task force studied the fairness and cost of the death sentence. New Jersey had 10 people on Death Row at the time.[1] As of October 2007, there are eight people on Death Row in New Jersey.New Jersey Department of Corrections
On December 10 2007, the New Jersey Senate passed bill to repeal the current death penalty statute, and replaced it with life imprisonment without parole. On Dec. 13, 2007, the state's General Assembly adopted the same law. Governor Corzine signed the bill into law on December 17, 2007.New Jersey Senate Bill No. 171
Executions prior to 1982
- Peter Kudzinowski – December 21, 1929
- Henry Colin Campbell – April 18, 1930
- Bruno Hauptmann – April 3, 1936 – this execution is notable for being part of the Lindbergh kidnapping case.
- Buford Tanismore – April 4, 1950
- Howard Auld – May 27, 1951
- Clarence Smith – May 13, 1952
- Frederick Dunk – May 13, 1952
- Robert Jellison – May 13, 1952
- Irving Peterson – August 26, 1952
- Theodore Walker – July 27, 1954
- James Beard – August 17, 1954
- Frank Roscus – January 4, 1955
- Eugene Monahan – January 11, 1955
- Felipe Rios – May 3, 1955
- Joaquin Rodriguez – May 3, 1955
- Jose Cruz – May 3, 1955
- Alfred Stokes – September 2, 1955
- Harry Wise – September 2, 1955
- Albert Wise – September 2, 1955
- John Henry Tune – August 21, 1956
- Fred Sturdivant – July 3, 1962
- Joseph Ernst – July 31, 1962
- Ralph Hudson – January 22, 1963