Letter to the Editor: Conservatives seek end of death penalty (December 5, 2021)
“We write in support of House Bill 183 and Senate Bill 103 in the Ohio General Assembly that would abolish the death penalty in Ohio.
What is remarkable is there is a growing concern among Republicans about the cost and ineffectiveness of the death penalty.”
Read the rest of this letter in the Youngstown Vindicator here.
TV: Two bills Ohio Legislature could end death penalty in state (December 3, 2021)
“Ohio is getting as close as it’s come in years to abolishing the death penalty. Two bills making their way through the legislature represent a new lease on life for some and endless pain to others.”
Podcast: Discussions with DPIC (December 2, 2021)
“In the December 2021 episode of Discussions with DPIC, Death Penalty Information Center Deputy Director Ngozi Ndulue interviews State Representative Jean Schmidt about her work as the primary sponsor of a bill in the Ohio House of Representatives that would abolish capital punishment in the state. A long-time Republican elected official, Rep. Schmidt also served in the U.S. House of Representatives for ten years. She avidly supported the death penalty early in her career but now is an advocate of criminal justice reform. Ndulue and Schmidt discuss the Republican party’s and Schmidt’s own evolving views on capital punishment, its myriad economic and emotional costs, mistakes in the criminal legal system, and public safety. According to Schmidt, ‘the death penalty is creating more victims than the crime itself.'”
Ohio lawmakers to again consider repealing the death penalty (November 21, 2021)
“The death penalty might be on life support in Ohio.
Lawmakers continue to consider two separate bipartisan measures that would make life in prison without the possibility of parole the harshest sentence available under state law.
Family members of murder victims pushed for the repeal of capital punishment in Ohio at a hearing for House Bill 183 last Monday.”
Read the rest of this article on The Ohio Press Network by clicking here.
Letter to the Editor: Consider facts when deciding death penalty (November 21, 2021)
“I read the Tribune Chronicle article titled “Death penalty debated.” Although Trumbull County Assistant Prosecutor Christopher Becker testified in opposition the legislation to repeal capital punishment, it seemed he wanted to re-litigate the common sense criminal justice reforms from the past few decades.”
Read the rest of this article in the Warren Tribune-Chronicle by clicking here.
Op-Ed: Republicans Across the Country Are Joining the Fight to End the Death Penalty (November 19, 2021)
“In Ohio, a political bell-weather state that has become very red in recent election cycles, former Congresswoman and now State Representative Jean Schmidt and Sen. Stephen Huffman are Republican prime sponsors of bills to end the death penalty. They are clear that the death penalty is a contradiction to their conservative beliefs.”
Discussion continues on bill that would eliminate death penalty in Ohio (November 18, 2021)
“A fourth hearing was held Thursday on legislation that could abolish the death penalty in Ohio.
House Bill 183 was introduced by Reps. Jean Schmidt, R-Loveland, and Adam Miller, D-Columbus, in March.”
Read the rest of this article from ABC 6 in Columbus by clicking here.
Legislation to Abolish Death Penalty in Ohio Has Fourth Hearing This Week (November 18, 2021)
“Legislation to abolish the death penalty in Ohio is set to have a fourth hearing today.
The House Criminal Justice Committee will hear from interested parties on House Bill 183, which has a companion bill in the Senate.
Rev. Dr. Crystal Walker, executive director of the group Greater Dayton Christian Connections, whose son was murdered in 2013, said the death penalty cannot bring him back, and she would not want his killer’s family to feel the loss she feels.”
Read the rest of this article from Cleveland Scene by clicking here.
Family members of murder victims push for the repeal of capital punishment in Ohio (November 16, 2021)
Click here to read the rest of the Gongwer article (available by subscription).
Letter to the Editor: Death penalty not a proven deterrent to crime, let’s do away with it (November 15, 2021)
“Supporters of the death penalty argue it keeps our communities safe, and revenge is justified as a deterrent to crime. This hyperbole and use of extreme case examples is an outdated scare tactic that has no place in Ohio.”
Read the rest of this letter in The Columbus Dispatch by clicking here.
Ending capital punishment in Ohio should be a ‘pro-life’ ideal, evangelical speakers declare (November 12, 2021)
“Evangelicals must put their political and spiritual weight behind abolishing the death penalty because supporting the practice is tantamount to playing God, an evangelical preacher said during an online rally held to end executions in Ohio.”
Read the rest of this article in Baptist News Global by clicking here.
Letter to the Editor: ‘Barbaric’ death penalty needs to be abolished (November 7, 2021)
In his Oct. 31 letter to the editor, Louis Tobin responds to a guest opinion column by Stephanie Ranade Krider in which she spoke out against the death penalty. Krider stressed that all human lives are deserving of dignity, including those on death row.
Tobin, executive director of the Ohio Prosecuting Attorneys Association, tries to suggest that revenge is a legitimate justification for the death penalty. He proceeds to describe heinous crimes in great detail as an argument in favor of capital punishment.
This kind of emotional appeal has no place in the debate.