Government

Some Ohio Death Row Inmates May Be Eligible For Life Instead

Either way, they're going to have a lot of time on their hands.

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(Image via Getty)

Back in January, Ohio Governor Mike DeWine signed House Bill 136 into law. It prohibits imposing or carrying out the death penalty on prisoners whose severe mental illness at the time of the offense significantly impaired their judgment, capacity, or ability to appreciate the nature of their conduct. Earlier this month, the state supreme court applied the law to a man who was sentenced to death for killing four people. Ohio prisoners currently sentenced to death have until August of 2022 to appeal their death sentence on the ground that they were diagnosed with schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, bipolar disorder, or delusional disorder at the time they committed their offenses.

There are also pending House and Senate bills that would outright get rid of the death penalty as a punishment. Arguments for and against the death penalty strike at the heart of the role that prisons ought play in societies. While some theories lean more restorative and others retributive, most can agree that life without parole costs less than the death penalty. In addition to the bottom dollar view on final punishment, there are other practical matters that stand in the way of the death penalty’s use, like lethal injection’s lack of viability and the likely indecision that would arise if lawmakers were forced to choose how the killings would be carried out.

What do lawyers think about the death penalty’s place in our prosecutorial system? Let us know at [email protected].

EXPLAINER: How Mental Illness Law Is Changing Ohio Death Row [U.S. News]

Chris Williams became a social media manager and assistant editor for Above the Law in June 2021. Prior to joining the staff, he moonlighted as a minor Memelord™ in the Facebook group Law School Memes for Edgy T14s. Before that, he wrote columns for an online magazine named The Muse Collaborative under the pen name Knehmo. He endured the great state of Missouri long enough to graduate from Washington University in St. Louis School of Law. He is a former boatbuilder who cannot swim, a published author on critical race theory, philosophy, and humor, and has a love for cycling that occasionally annoys his peers. You can reach him by email at [email protected] and by tweet at @WritesForRent.

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