A recent editorial in The Beacon Journal notes that Ohio Supreme Court Justice Paul Pfeifer, who played a leading role in writing Ohio’s death penalty statute 22 years ago when he was chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, is now calling for passage of legislation to analyze the state’s death penalty system. The review, which also has the endorsement of the Ohio State Bar Association, would create a Capital Case Commission to study the state’s death penalty and make reform recommendations to ensure accuracy and fairness. The editorial concludes:

A Capital Case Commission would amount to a first step toward a thorough evaluation. Justice Pfeifer emphasized why the commission is “critically important.” Ohio must have a system of the capital punishment that is “fair and just and equally applied to all” if it expects public confidence in criminal justice as a whole.

(The Beacon Journal, June 15, 2003) Read the editorial. See also, New Voices.