Contact your lawmakers

Tell your lawmakers to support legislation that would end the deeply flawed and expensive death penalty in Ohio. Here’s what to do:

  • Enter your name and contact information (in order to find the lawmakers that represent you) and click “start writing.”
  • Your lawmakers will load along with a sample message to get you started.
  • Use the letter-writing tips, below, to edit the message so it reflects your views .
  • Click ‘send letter’.

And that’s it! The message will automatically be sent to your lawmakers.

Letter-Writing Tips

When you send an email to your Senator, refer to Senate Bill 101. When you send an email to your Representative, refer to House Bill 259.

Here are some talking points you can use in an email to your lawmaker:

  • This issue is deeply important to me. Executing someone can’t be undone, and there have been too many cases where people convicted of crimes were later found innocent when new evidence was discovered.
  • Ohio is home to 11 death row exonerees. This means for every five executions, one person has been exonerated.
  • The death penalty is not an effective deterrent to violent crime. In 2015, the murder rate was 25% higher in states that have the death penalty versus states that have no death penalty in place.
  • We need to stop wasting resources on an ineffective death penalty and replace it with proven solutions that will make our communities safer and help heal those affected by violence. We could be investing in additional police training or mental health and addiction programs that have proven track records of success.
  • The death penalty prolongs the pain of murder victim family members. The lengthy and very necessary appeals process denies murder victim family members the opportunity to grieve in peace.