Could legislative mindsets really be changing? Raymond Lesniak, a New Jersey state legislator, regretted his 1982 vote to reinstate the death penalty.

He did so, he says, not because he thought it was right, but because he was afraid that if he did not support capital punishment, the voters would punish him. Over time, Mr. Lesniak, a Union County Democrat who rose to the State Senate in 1983, became haunted by his decision, by the immorality of putting people to death, and by the possibility that an innocent person would be executed under the law that he supported.

New Jersey abolished the death penalty last year, a legislative accomplishment that Lesniak championed. What about his fear of being punished by voters who might think him "soft on crime"?

Mr. Lesniak’s constituents were not nearly as angry with him as he had feared. He concluded that elected officials are much freer than they believe to vote their conscience.

Sometimes leaders need to lead. It's easy to take opinion polls and to play it safe, but on an issue of life and death, it isn't a bad thing for a politician to vote his conscience ... assuming he has one.