Ohio Senate hears arguments advocating for an end to the death penalty
The Ohio Senate held a hearing Tuesday afternoon to hear the testimonies of senators advocating for the end of the death penalty in Ohio.
Senators Nicki Antonio and Steve Huffman both testified on why they believe it’s time to put an end to the death penalty in Ohio, with Senator Antonio describing the death penalty as “expensive, impractical, unjust, inhumane and erroneous.”
‘Expensive, impractical, unjust;’ New bill looking to abolish death penalty in Ohio
There is a renewed push to get rid of Ohio’s death penalty.
Tuesday lawmakers, including one from the Miami Valley, talked about plans to end it.
Bills like Senate Bill 101 have been introduced before, but these latest efforts have bipartisan support.
Will Gov. DeWine concede Ohio’s death penalty has failed in every way?
Gov. Mike DeWine recently remarked on the “age-old debate” about capital punishment. The governor then added that “at the appropriate time,” he would have “some more comments about it.”
What better time than now, as the effort to end the death penalty in Ohio gains a bit of momentum?
Will Ohio Kill The Death Penalty?
Capital punishment could soon be on its way out of Ohio. Recent efforts from the governor, the attorney general, and state legislators suggest the state is moving away from the practice.
Ohio’s last execution was in 2018. Republican Gov. Mike DeWine has been slowly phasing out executions since he was elected. In 2019, he rescheduled an execution, citing fears “that the use of a particular drug that we would announce that would be used in [an execution] protocol might result in that particular drug company cutting off the state of Ohio.” In 2020, DeWine declared an “unofficial moratorium” on the death penalty because of the difficulties in obtaining the necessary drugs to carry out a lethal injection execution “without endangering other Ohioans.” And last week, he granted reprieves of execution for three death-row prisoners—extending each of their execution dates by over three years.
Report says Ohio should overhaul the death penalty or abolish it
Republican Attorney General Dave Yost has been a supporter of the death penalty in Ohio. But a new report from his office said it is costing the state millions of dollars while it is on hold.
While capital punishment for certain crimes is on the books in Ohio, there hasn’t been an execution in Ohio since July 18, 2018. A lack of drugs for lethal injection is often blamed for delays. Gov. Mike DeWine has not authorized the execution of any death row inmates since he took office.
The death penalty costs Ohio hundreds of millions of dollars. It hasn’t been used in years
Ohio’s death penalty program costs the state hundreds of millions, but it hasn’t been used since 2018. A bipartisan group of lawmakers is ready to pull the plug.
It’s failed for 12 years, but advocates have renewed hope that capital punishment will end in Ohio with a new bill at the Statehouse.
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Ohioans to Stop Executions Executive Director Allison Cohen continues to come back to the Statehouse year after year to try to end what she and Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost call a “broken system.”
Ohio should abolish the death penalty – now
A bipartisan group of state senators is sponsoring a bill to repeal Ohio’s death penalty law. The General Assembly should approve it and Republican Gov. Mike DeWine should sign the repeal.
This is not a new position for our editorial board. We have been calling for an end to the state’s death penalty since at least 1983, two years after lawmakers enacted the current law. Our editorials argued against the death penalty on many grounds — from practicalities and costs to the basic unfairness of a penalty that disproportionately targeted minorities and the poor. As we commented two years ago, Ohio’s death penalty has been used “not for the worst of the worst, but for marginalized Ohioans, those of color, of low-income, those with mental deficiencies, those who couldn’t afford the best of the best defense counsel.”
Ohio’s broken death-penalty system may be wasting hundreds of millions of dollars, AG warns
As Ohio’s death-penalty system lingers in a years-long purgatory, Attorney General Dave Yost says the state could be spending hundreds of millions of dollars unnecessarily to keep inmates on Death Row.
“Ohio’s residents and their elected leaders should make one of two decisions: Either overhaul the capital punishment system to make it effective, or end it,” stated his office’s annual report on the state’s death penalty, released late last month.
Report: Average Ohio death sentence lasts 21 years, costs millions
An Ohio inmate typically spends 21 years on death row and costs taxpayers up to five-times more for a capital case versus noncapital capital case, according to a new report released by Attorney General Dave Yost.
The release of the 2022 Capital Crimes Report comes less than two weeks after a bipartisan group of Ohio senators introduced legislation to end the death penalty in the state. Yost, a death penalty proponent, welcomes the debate and wants changes made to the current law.