Ohio Legislative Black Caucus Identifies Death Penalty as a Legislative Priority Due to Legacy of Racial Violence and Bias

On June 11, 2024, the Ohio Legislative Black Caucus (OLBC) held a press con­fer­ence high­light­ing the group’s leg­isla­tive pri­or­i­ties, which includ­ed the death penal­ty as a key con­cern. Noting ​“the racial cycle of injus­tice per­pe­trat­ed by the death penal­ty,” State Representative Terrence Upchurch, who is also the pres­i­dent of the OLBC, insist­ed that leg­isla­tive lead­er­ship move toward ​“dis­man­tling this flawed sys­tem and estab­lish­ing a new lega­cy of equal­i­ty and jus­tice in Ohio.”

Rep. Upchurch and oth­er mem­bers of the OLBC espoused many of the key take­aways from the Death Penalty Information Center’s lat­est report, Broken Promises: How a History of Racial Violence and Bias Shaped Ohio’s Death Penalty. Chief among their con­cerns were the race of vic­tim effect and the poten­tial for inno­cent peo­ple to be sen­tenced to death due to bias among pros­e­cu­tors, judges, and juries. As not­ed in Broken Promises, homi­cides involv­ing white female vic­tims are six times more like­ly to result in an exe­cu­tion than homi­cides involv­ing Black vic­tims. The report also revealed that inno­cent Black Ohioans col­lec­tive­ly spent near­ly 200 years on death row for crimes they did not com­mit. The sto­ries includ­ed in the report under­score the OLBC’s con­cerns about racial bias taint­ing cap­i­tal pro­ceed­ings. Jurors, expert wit­ness­es, and attor­neys who made overt­ly racist state­ments par­tic­i­pat­ed in sen­tenc­ing mul­ti­ple Black Ohioans to death.

“Ohio’s death penal­ty sys­tem reflects a lega­cy of racial vio­lence and bias,” said Rep. Upchurch. ​“Black defen­dants face a prej­u­diced process, mak­ing a fair tri­al near­ly impos­si­ble.” Senate Bill 101 and House Bill 259, both advo­cat­ing for death penal­ty abo­li­tion, have bipar­ti­san sup­port in both cham­bers. Neither bill has pro­gressed since being referred to com­mit­tee in 2023.