Ohio sees growing push to end the death penalty

DAYTON, Ohio (WDTN) — There is a growing push to end the death penalty in Ohio.

122 people in the state are on death row, and 31 have execution dates — but now, bipartisan pushes at the Statehouse would instead give them all life sentences without parole.

Governor Mike DeWine has said that he does not anticipate any while he is governor, but state representatives and senators say that’s not enough. Both democrats and republicans in the state’s House and Senate have signed to abolish the death penalty.

“The death penalty is expensive, costly, time consuming, and an ineffective mean of reducing crime rates,” Democratic lawmaker Adam Miller of Columbus said. “The death penalty disproportionately affects marginalized communities, and this alone tells us the system.”

In a new statement, Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost said, “Bad ideas do not magically become good ideas simply because both of our broken political parties agree on it.”

Yost added that he supports the death penalty for the ‘most heinous offenders.’