Death penalty opponents push for elimination in Ohio
Opponents of the death penalty are once again urging the Ohio legislature to eliminate the practice in the state.
In a hearing with the Senate Judiciary Committee, advocacy groups and family members of murder victims alike came together to ask for passage of a bill that would abolish the death penalty.
State lawmakers struggle with Ohio’s death penalty regulations
Ohio last put an inmate to death six years ago, and as another legislative session nears a close, state lawmakers appear to be no closer to choosing a direction on the contentious issue.
Hearings have been held on bills on both sides: to do away with capital punishment altogether in favor of life without parole, and to implement a new option for executions given that the state can’t obtain the drugs it prefers for lethal injection.
Ohio Senate Bill aims to abolish state death penalty law
A fight is underway in Ohio to do away with the state’s death penalty law. If Senate Bill 101 is passed, Ohio’s long standing death penalty law will be abolished.
The bill would make capital crimes, which make it possible to give the death penalty, a sentence of life without parole.
Nicki Antonio, Ohio State Senator, is one of the sponsors of the bill. She said the death penalty process is expensive and does not stop crime.
“The death penalty is not a deterrent to crime. It’s expensive to keep people out of the general population. It’s expensive when it comes to the appeals that are over and over. There’s a human toll,” said Antonio.
Support for death penalty falls to lowest level in decades: Gallup
Overall support for the death penalty in the U.S. has fallen to 53%, the lowest level in five decades, according to a Gallup study released Thursday.
A majority of millennials and Gen-Zers do not support the death penalty, the research found based on aggregated data from Gallup’s annual crime survey, which dates back to 2000.
An average of 66% of American adults supported the death penalty from 2000 to 2006, compared to 61% from 2010 to 2016.
The debate over the death penalty
Cincinnati Edition host Lucy May Interviewed Pierce Reed, director of policy and engagement for the Ohio Innocence Project at UC Law; Louis Tobin, executive director of the Ohio Prosecuting Attorneys Association; former Ohio death row inmate Lamont Hunter and his attorney Erin Gallagher Barnhart, assistant federal public defender, Southern District of Ohio’s Capital Habeas Unit for a recent segment.
Kill The Death Penalty
“As a Catholic person, I believe that the death penalty is a violation of natural law and a direct contradiction to Catholic social teaching. But much more than the act of execution itself demeaning the sanctity of life, the capital punishment system steals funding that could be used to protect what I believe to be equally sacred: the lives of those experiencing poverty, war, lack of access to basic necessities and marginalization.”
Today is World Day Against the Death Penalty. It’s time to end it in Ohio for good.
October 10 marks World Day Against the Death Penalty. This year, the annual observance day comes on the heels of five recent executions that were carried out in the span of a week, a stark reminder of how prevalent use of the death penalty still is in our country.
After 200th death row exoneration, it’s time to end death penalty
This summer, the 200th prisoner was exonerated from death row. This shocking milestone teaches us that wherever the death penalty exists, innocent people are at risk of being wrongfully executed. In 2021, the Death Penalty Information Center dubbed this national reality an “innocence epidemic.”
Reimagining justice: Why the death penalty should be left in the past
Capital punishment is, and always has been, a hypocritical act that disproportionately affects marginalized communities. It punishes individuals whose circumstances are deeply rooted in systemic failures rather than personal shortcomings.
In January 2024, Ohio lawmakers proposed a bill that would allow execution by nitrogen gas asphyxiation — a method that deprives the body of oxygen and has been criticized by the U.N. Human Rights Officefor potentially violating treaties against cruel and inhumane punishment.
Last Week America Carried Out Its 1,600th Execution Since 1976. When Will the Madness Stop?
On Thursday night, Alan Miller became the second person put to death in Alabama using nitrogen hypoxia. Miller was convicted in the 1999 killing of three men, and this was his second trip to Alabama’s death chamber. The state had previously attempted to execute him by lethal injection in 2022.
With Miller’s death, this country has now executed 1,600 people since the United States Supreme Court revived capital punishment in its 1976 Gregg v. Georgia decision. The Washington Post rightly labeled the 1,600 mark “a grim milestone.”