I support repealing Ohio's death penalty. It's a costly system that wrongfully convicts people with alarming regularity, burns taxpayer money, harms murder victim family members, and does not serve as an appropriate response to violent crime.
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.
In Ohio, 11 men on death row have been exonerated since 1976, according to Ohioans to Stop Executions. This means for every five executions that took place, one person has been exonerated, one of the highest rates nationwide.
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, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.
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. Or, we could be using these monies instead for the families of the crime victims.
Closure by execution is a myth. The death penalty prolongs the pain of murder victim family members, a DePaul University researcher has found. The lengthy and very necessary appeals process denies murder victim family members the opportunity to grieve in peace.
Further, the cost for an average death penalty case, a study in another state showed, is $3 million versus $1 million for life without parole.
The well documented racial and class disparity in Ohio executions is appalling. If you can pay, you can walk, as they say.
Please support the Ohio bipartisan death penalty repeal legislation when it comes up for a vote as House Bill 183 or Senate Bill 103.
Source: Akron Beacon Journal, Bruce Freeman, January 21, 2022. Bruce Freeman is an Akron resident.
🚩 | Report an error, an omission, a typo; suggest a story or a new angle to an existing story; submit a piece, a comment; recommend a resource; contact the webmaster, contact us:
deathpenaltynews@gmail.com.
Opposed to Capital Punishment? Help us keep this blog up and running! DONATE!
"One is absolutely sickened, not by the crimes that the wicked have committed,
but by the punishments that the good have inflicted." -- Oscar Wilde
