Faiths plan united effort to repeal death penalty in Ohio Ohio Death Chamber The head of a statewide anti-death-penalty group says a “major initiative” is in the works to unite religious organizations in a campaign to abolish executions in Ohio. Kevin Werner, executive director of Ohioans to Stop Executions, said yesterday that details are being worked out, but he expects events to begin in 2014. “What you’re going to see is a lively and invigorated campaign from the faith communities in Ohio to repeal the death penalty,” he said. Werner and other members of his group discussed plans with a small number of faith leaders yesterday at the Summit on 16th United Methodist Church in the University District. The private meeting followed a discussion during which Werner said Ohio’s capital-punishment system is “broken beyond repair” and “broken beyond compare.” “When we’re looking across the region, Ohio behaves like a Deep South state when it comes to the death penalty. It sticks out like a sore thumb,” Werner said. “We are very outside the norm for traditional Midwest values.” He said the time is right to gather support from faith communities as more and more issues are being raised about the death penalty in Ohio. A death-penalty task force formed by the Ohio Supreme Court and the Ohio State Bar Association in 2011 is set to wrap up its review of the state’s system this fall. And Ohio officials are expected to reveal today a new death-penalty protocol, the latest in a string of changes to the procedure since 2006. Ohio has executed 52 inmates since 1976, ranking it eighth among the states, according to data updated on Wednesday by the Death Penalty Information Center. Texas has had the most executions, with 505, followed by Virginia (110), Oklahoma (106), Florida (79), Missouri (68), Alabama (56) and Georgia (53). Read more: deathpenaltynews.blogspot/2013/10/faiths-plan-united-effort-to-repeal.html#ixzz2gn3KSV22
Posted on: Fri, 04 Oct 2013 21:21:01 +0000
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