Imagine my utter surprise when I get a news alert about something Ohio Governor Mike DeWine says, that I not only agree with, but am actively championing. Per our local paper, The Toledo Blade:
COLUMBUS — The state of Ohio should end the death penalty, Gov. Mike DeWine said Tuesday.
“I no longer believe that the death penalty is a deterrent,” Mr. DeWine said during a news conference at the Riffe Center. “The moral justification I had for voting for the death penalty simply no longer exists.”
The governor said the Ohio General Assembly should take action to end capital punishment.
“If the legislature does not want to make that decision, they can leave it up to a vote of the people of the state of Ohio,” Mr. DeWine said.
The fact that Gov. DeWine is calling for this is proof that no matter what, if you’re open, you can change. I appreciate that as for part of my life, I was a death penalty purist, if you did the crime worthy of it, your life is forfeit.
During the first year of marriage, my wife and I were reading Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove’s book, New Monasticism: What it Has to Say to Today’s Church. A former friend and colleague had recommended it to us as we were interested in the movement, and I will never forget how challenging the chapter on the death penalty was. Through many drives from Chicago to Toledo, we had argued and discussed it ultimately landing on, who are we to say when God is done with someone.
Today, the day that DeWine has come out against the death penalty should be one we remember. On June 16, 1944 George Stinney Jr. was executed via the electric chair in Columbia South Carolina. It was alleged that he murdered two white girls, and this poor 14 year old Black child, was tried, convicted, and sentenced in one day. Then, 82 years ago today, he became the youngest confirmed person to be murdered by the state in the 20th century America. George Stinney’s case was reopened, and in December of 2014 he was vacated of the crime due to new evidence.
Per the Equal Justice Initiative, an incredible organization founded by Bryan Stevenson, 202 people have been exonerated and released from death row since 1973, and 1,661 people have been executed in the U.S. since 1973. This means for every eight people executed, one person on death row has been exonerated. The odds are too high to not do something about it.
As the old adage goes, broken clocks are right twice a day, the same can be said of politicians, and today is one of them.
Ohioans, call your reps and ask them to support Governor DeWine’s push to abolish the death penalty in Ohio. You can find your State House Rep here, and your State Senator here.
Grace and peace.
George of Sylvania 