An Ohio Supreme Court com­mit­tee appoint­ed to study the death penal­ty recent­ly made rec­om­men­da­tions on how the state’s cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment sys­tem can lessen the impact of racial bias. The com­mit­tee rec­om­mend­ed lim­it­ing the death penal­ty to few­er cas­es, focus­ing on those involv­ing mul­ti­ple vic­tims, those involv­ing vic­tims under the age of 13, killings of police offi­cers, and crimes com­mit­ted to elim­i­nate wit­ness­es. The pro­pos­al attempts to remove the influ­ence of race in cap­i­tal cas­es by elim­i­nat­ing the death penal­ty for cas­es that involve a high degree of dis­cre­tion in sen­tenc­ing, such as mur­ders that involve kid­nap­ping, rape, aggra­vat­ed arson, aggra­vat­ed bur­glary, or aggra­vat­ed rob­bery. The rec­om­men­da­tion was passed by the com­mit­tee by a vote of 12 – 2, and will like­ly be con­sid­ered dur­ing the 2014 leg­isla­tive ses­sion. Death penal­ty statutes vary sig­nif­i­cant­ly among the states. California, which has the largest death row in the coun­try, and Texas, the lead­ing exe­cu­tion state, have broad statutes that allow almost any mur­der case to be tried as a cap­i­tal case. New Hampshire and Kansas, how­ev­er, have much narrower statutes. 

(“Court com­mit­tee: Revamp Ohio death penal­ty law by nar­row­ing list of eli­gi­ble crimes,” Associated Press, June 27, 2013). See Arbitrariness and Recent Legislation.

Citation Guide