TRENTON, New Jersey — New Jersey should abolish its death penalty and replace it with life imprisonment without the possibility of parole, according to a special commission’s report sent to legislators and the governor.Gov. Jon Corzine endorsed the report’s recommendations yesterday, which must first be introduced as proposals by lawmakers before the Democrat could sign them into law.

The report concluded that New Jersey’s death penalty, which has not been used in more than four decades, neither deters crime nor helps victims’ families because such cases drag on for years.

“The alternative of life imprisonment in a maximum security institution without the possibility of parole would sufficiently ensure public safety and address other legitimate social and penological interests, including the interests of the families of murder victims,” the report said.

The report, authored by a 13-member commission created in late 2005 by state lawmakers, found the death penalty costs taxpayers more than paying for prisoners to serve life terms without parole. It also cited other states reconsidering their death penalties, federal court moves to restrict executions of the mentally retarded and juveniles, and religious opposition to the punishment.

“There is increasing evidence that the death penalty is inconsistent with evolving standards of decency,” the report said.

Corzine opposes the death penalty and said yesterday he would “look forward to working with the Legislature to implement the recommendations outlined in the report.”

He is the first elected New Jersey governor to oppose capital punishment since Brendan Byrne, who left office in January 1982.

Hailed as needed by death penalty opponents, the report was decried by some families whose kin were slain by the nine men now on New Jersey’s death row. The state held its last execution in 1963.

“I just think it’s a shame that people are going to have to pay year after year to keep to keep these people in prison,” said Maureen Kanka, who led a national movement for communities to be notified when sex offenders move nearby after her seven-year-old daughter Megan was murdered by a sex offender in 1994.

If lawmakers and Corzine implement the commission’s recommendation, New Jersey would become the 13th state without a death penalty.

New Jersey was the third state to impose a death penalty moratorium to study the issue, after Maryland and Illinois.