Recent active discussions regarding Ohio’s dormant death penalty
I have long viewed Ohio as a fascinating death penalty state, though that view is surely influenced by the fact I teach and write about capital punishment here in the Buckeye State. Especially for a state outside the deep south, Ohio has long had a active death system: Ohio juries have imposed a relatively large number of death sentences and Ohio was behind only a few states in the total number of executions for the first dozen of so years starting the 21st century.
But lots of litigation over execution methods and a range of other factors have contrubuted to a significant reduction in recent years in the (a) the size of Ohio’s death row, (b) the number of new death sentences, and (c) completed executions in Ohio. Of particular note, there has not been an execution in Ohio since summer 2018, and it certainly seems that current Ohio Governor Mike DeWine is disinclined to preside over any executions while he is in office (which will be through 2026). But the dormant capital punishment reality has not precluded active capital punishment discussions, as highlights by these recent stories:
From Fox News, “Ohio sheriff fed up with crime stemming from border crisis calls for death penalty renewal“
From Ohio Capital Journal, “Backers believe nitrogen hypoxia can jumpstart Ohio’s stalled capital punishment system“”
From Spectrum News, “Gov. DeWine delays 3 more executions“
From WCMH, “Move to abolish Ohio’s death penalty renewed“
From WKRC, “Ohio considers 2 new death penalty bills that would either end executions or restart them“