TRENTON — Few other issues have prompted the kind of intensity and conviction that Gov. Jon S. Corzine shows when he talks about preventing even one more execution.

On Monday, those sentiments were on full display as he signed a bill repealing New Jersey’s death penalty and then commuted the death sentences of eight death row inmates to life in prison with no chance of parole, making the state the first in a generation to abolish capital punishment.

In a contemplative and at times emotional speech, Mr. Corzine spoke of morality and practicality, saying that “state-endorsed killing” was amoral public policy. Mr. Corzine, who said he has believed for most of his adult life that capital punishment is wrong, seemed to be making more than just a perfunctory political statement at a bill-signing ceremony.

“For me, the question is more fundamental,” he said. “I believe society must first determine if its endorsement of violence begets violence, and if violence undermines our commitment to the sanctity of life. To these questions, I answer, ‘Yes.’”

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He added that he believed “from my heart and from my soul” that ending capital punishment in New Jersey was the right decision.

Mr. Corzine has taken a firmer stance on the death penalty than on other social issues. On gay marriage, for example, he has said he would sign a law allowing homosexuals to marry but has stopped short of pushing the Legislature to take up the issue, saying he does not think the political climate is right.

Last year, the Legislature made New Jersey the third state in the nation to recognize civil unions for same-sex couples, fulfilling a State Supreme Court order that gay couples be accorded equal legal rights, but did not go so far as to authorize same-sex marriage.

The timing for abolishing the death penalty, the governor said, was ideal. “I believe that you seize the moments where you can bring these issues to fruition. And that is what has happened,” he said.

In January, a state commission recommended abolition of the death penalty after a comprehensive study that found the policy ineffective. The Democratic leadership in the Legislature brought the bill to a vote during a lame-duck session, a timing that helped sway some legislators who might otherwise have voted against it.

New Jersey is now the first state to repeal the death penalty since the United States Supreme Court set the framework for the modern capital punishment system in 1976, and the change brought Mr. Corzine the kind of legacy-building victory that he has had difficulty attaining lately.

In November, Mr. Corzine was defeated on another social issue of great personal importance when voters rejected a ballot initiative to borrow $450 million to finance stem cell research.

“For the governor, it was more than just the death penalty,” said Senator Raymond J. Lesniak, a Democrat from Union County who is close to Mr. Corzine. “It showed that he could get what he believes in enacted into law, which has been pretty difficult his first two years in office.”

Mr. Lesniak recalled how he counseled Mr. Corzine in vain to support capital punishment when the governor ran for United States Senate in 2000.

“I said, ‘This is going to hurt you,’” he said. “It didn’t matter. He wasn’t going to change his views.” Mr. Corzine acknowledged on Monday that there was strong opposition to abolishing capital punishment.

“Other good people will describe today’s actions in quite different terms — in terms of injustice — particularly those who carry heavy hearts, broken hearts from their tragic losses,” he said. “This bill does not forgive or in any way condone the unfathomable acts carried out by the eight men now on New Jersey’s death row. They will spend the rest of their lives in jail.”

Where those inmates will be held is still in question. The Department of Corrections said Monday those decisions “have yet to be finalized.”

Corrections officials have said the most dangerous inmates would be kept in isolation but less violent inmates could be moved into the general population and still kept under maximum security guard, officials said.

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