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Ohio
Conference United Church of Christ |
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INNOCENCE: Even with the exhaustive appeals process, at least 23 innocent people have been executed in the U.S. since the death penalty was reinstated in 1974. Over 125 people have been given the death penalty in error and eventually released. Two of those released were Ohioans. The United States Supreme Court ruled in Herrera v. Collins that it is constitutional to execute an innocent person as long as they had a fair trial. Ohio has the alternative of life in prison without parole, which avoids this risk. CRIME DETERRENCE: Statistics show that death penalty states tend to have higher crime rates than non-death-penalty states. Even then Ohio Attorney General and current Gubernatorial Candidate Betty Montgomery has admitted that the death penalty does not deter violent crime. DEMOGRAPHICS: Most death row inmates come from richer counties in Ohio, such as Cuyahoga, Franklin and Hamilton because they have more resources for prosecution of capital cases. According to an AP study (2005), 8% of indictments in progressive Cuyahoga County result in death penalty convictions while 43% in conservative Hamilton County do so. Smaller counties focus on life sentences, raising the issue of fair and equal treatment throughout the state. Nearly half of the capital punishment cases in Ohio end in a plea bargain, including 131 cases of multiple deaths. TARGETS THE POOR: 100% of the inmates on death row are considered to be indigent, which means they received lawyers from the Public Defenders' Office, appointed by the court. In Coshocton County, the maximum amount paid a defense attorney is $3,000 while the same case in Montgomery and Wyandot Counties would provide $75,000 for the defense. In any case, this is a fraction of what is actually spent by attorneys defending in capital cases. As witnessed in the O.J. Simpson and other highly publicized cases, non-indigent clients are able to afford more expensive defenses. RACIAL ISSUES: More minorities receive the death sentence for killing white victims than white victims who kill minorities even though the number of cases in each instance is about equal. When the race of the victim is white, the perpetrator is at least four times more likely to get the death penalty. Since 1977, 82% of all persons executed were convicted of killing white people despite the fact that more than 50% of all victims of violent crime are people of color. The 2005 AP study found that a person convicted of killing a white victim is more than twice as likely to receive the death penalty as a person convicted of murdering a black victim. On May 9, 2005, there were 195 inmates on Ohio Death Row, including 1 female. Ninety-seven were African American, 90 Caucasian, 2 Native-American, 2 Latino and 4 “other.” GENDER MATTERS: Over a period of 21 years, 98 women were indicted for murder and six (6%) were sentenced to death. MENTAL ILLNESS: According to Frontline (5/10/2005), 500,000 of 2 million inmates are mentally ill and says that Ohio’s prisons in effect have become huge asylums. Reginald Wilkinson says, “In addition to being the director of the Department of Correction, I became a de facto director of a major mental-health system.” (Columbus Dispatch, 5/10/2005, p. D5). FORMER DEATH ROW RESIDENTS: Since 1985, 92 persons have left Ohio Death Row for the following reasons:
Excluding the 12 natural deaths, nearly 80% of death row inmates have left death row and 21% were executed…… mistakes happen? ¨ MORE INFO: www.deathpenaltyinfo.org, www.cuadp.org/facts.html, www.otse.org |
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1803 (Statehood) to 1969 1803-1884 Death sentences are carried out by hanging in individual counties 1885 Hanging executions begin at the Ohio Penitentiary in Columbus 1897 The State's electric chair is put into use. 1897-1963 312 men and 3 women die in the electric chair; Donald L. Reinbolt of Columbus is the last person executed (March 15, 1963) 1970 to 1989 6/29/1972 U.S. Supreme Court overturns the Death Penalty due to application concerns. The 65 prisoners on Death Row in Ohio have their sentences reduced to life. 1974 Ohio re-establishes the Death Penalty, mandating its use for certain crimes. 7/3/1978 Ohio law ruled unconstitutional (Lockett). The sentences of 100 inmates are reduced to life. 1/1/1981 Ohio again reinstates the Death Penalty based on "guided discretion." Leonard Jenkins becomes the first person sentenced (10/19/1981) 1990 to 1999 1/11/1991 Governor Richard Celeste commutes the death sentences of 8 inmates: Debra Brown, Rosalie Grant, Elizabeth Green, Beatrice Lampkin, Leonard Jenkins, Willie Jester, Donald Maurer, and Lee Seiber. 7/2/1993 Lethal injection is added as an execution option. 11/8/1994 Voters amend the Ohio Constitution to shorten Death Penalty appeals. 6/28/1995 Ohio Legislature adds "Life without Parole" option for aggravated murder. 11/7/1995 Ohio Constitution amended limiting the Governor's authority in clemency. 2/19/1999 Wilford Berry is executed by lethal injection. It takes over 20 minutes to properly insert the needles. (See handout on lethal injection) 2000 to Present 6/14/2001 Jay D. Scott executed. 11/21/2001 Governor Taft signs bill eliminating the use of the electric chair. 2002 John Byrd, Jr. (2/19/02), Alton Coleman (4/26/02), Robert Buell (9/25/02) executed 2003 Richard Fox (2/12/03), David Brewer (4/29/03), Ernest Martin (6/18/03) executed. 2004 Lewis Williams, Jr. (1/14/04), John Glenn Roe (2/1/04), Billy Wickline (3/30/04), William Zuern (6/8/04), Stephen Vrabel (7/14/04), Scott Mink (7/20/04), Andremy Dennis (10-/13/04) executed. Ohio second only to Texas in number of executions in the United States. 2005 William Henry Smith (3/8/05) executed. |
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General Information An award-winning source of information: The Death Penalty Information Center www.deathpenaltyinfo.org National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty www.ncadp.org
For many links to other websites and information: Human Rights Death Penalty (www.derechos.org/df) Death penalty information blog: Ohio Death Penalty Information
United Church of Christ Information For the 1979 UCC resolution:
Religious
Organizing Against the Death Penalty For the UCC Justice
and Peace Action Network: Handouts: Ohio Conference United Church of Christ: Death Penalty
Ohio Information Ohioans to Stop Execution (OTSE) www.otse.org
Other Organizations and Sources of Information American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) www.aclu.org/capital/ Amnesty International www.web.amnesty.org/rmp/dplibrary.nsf/index?openview American
Friends Service Committee Catholics Against Capital Punishment www.cacp.org
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| Abolishing the Death Penalty in Ohio | |||||||||||||||||||||||
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The Death of Innocents: An Eyewitness Account of Wrongful Executions by Sr. Helen Prejean, published in 2005. Also Dead Man Walking: An Eyewitness Account of the Death Penalty in the United States by Sr. Helen Prejean, published in paperback in 1996. The Death Penalty on Trial: Crisis in American Justice by Bill Kurtis, published 2004. Debating the Death Penalty: Should America Have Capital Punishment?: The Experts on Both Sides Make Their Best Case by Hugo Adam Bedau (Editor), published in 2004. The Wrong Men: America’s Epidemic of Wrongful Death Row Convictions by Stanley Cohen, published 2003. Machinery of Death: The Reality of America's Death Penalty Regime by David Dow (Editor), published in paperback in 2002. The Death Penalty: An American History by Stuart Banner, published in 2002. Legal Lynching: The Death Penalty and America's Future by Jesse L. Jackson Sr. and Jesse L. Jackson Jr, published in 2001. Choosing Mercy: A Mother of Murder Victims Pleads to End the Death Penalty by Antoinette Bosco, published in 2001. The Executed God: The Way of the Cross in Lockdown America by Mark Lewis Taylor, a radical but apt comparison of the crucifixion of Jesus with today's practice of capital punishment, published in 2001 by Fortress Press. Executing Justice: The Moral Meaning of the Death Penalty by Lloyd Steffen, a heavily philosophical work written by a UCC member and published by Pilgrim Press in 1998. |
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Older Testament Genesis 9:6: "Whoever sheds the blood of a human, by a human shall that person's blood be shed " (NRSV) The problem with this text is whether it is to be interpreted as prescriptive or descriptive. The descriptive interpretation holds that it is a proverb similar to "violence begets violence." Note also that in Genesis 4, God ordered banishment for Cain rather than death for murdering his brother. Mosaic Code: In Exodus, Leviticus and Deuteronomy, the death penalty is prescribed for 15 crimes ranging from murder to false witness in a capital case, cursing one's parents, and rebelliousness on the part of a son. However, the safeguards include that there must be two eyewitnesses, witnesses were required to initiate the execution, and the penalty for bearing false witness in such a case was also death. Lex Talionis: "If any harm follows, then you shall give life for life...." (Ex. 21:23, NRSV) A major problem here is with offenses not involving bodily parts; what "justice" is required in these cases? The intent of this passage seems to be that justice should be proportional and that it was intended to restrain retaliation so that it should be read, "No more than a life for a life....." One needs to balance against this statement Jesus' repudiation of the Talion in Matt. 5:38-42 "You have heard that it was said, 'An eye for an eye...', but now I tell you: do not take revenge on someone who wrongs you" (TEV) Newer Testament Romans 13:1-7 Although this passage "But if you do what is wrong, you should be afraid, for the authority does not bear the sword in vain" is used by death penalty advocates, there are no references to the death penalty here or anywhere else in the Newer Testament. In contrast to Paul's regard for the state, Revelations goes to the other extreme referring to Rome as "the beast." John 8:2-11 In the incident involving the woman taken in adultery, Jesus' words: "Let him who is without sin cast the first stone." Although there is some canonical doubt regarding this passage, it does seem to reflect Jesus' teachings overall. In any event, the argument that he was only delaying the stoning, but not condemning it as death penalty proponents argue, until the guilty man was also present seems more than a stretch. *For a more complete discussion of these passages and others, see "The Death Penalty Biblical and Theological Issues: A Brief Survey of Selected Texts" by Rev. Philip F. Kahal, PhD |
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