State Rep. John Becker
(R-OH) wants his state to execute more
people — even if
the Constitution has other things to say. Under a proposal Becker announced
Friday, his state would expand its death penalty to include sex crimes such as
rape, sexual battery and “improper sexual contact” with a minor, at least in
cases where the defendant is a recidivist.
The Supreme Court held such
use of the death penalty to be unconstitutional in Kennedy v. Louisiana, which
established that “[a]s it relates to crimes against individuals . . . the death
penalty should not be expanded to instances where the victim’s life was not
taken.” Although Kennedy may
permit execution for “treason, espionage, terrorism, and drug kingpin activity,
which are offenses against the State,” the offenders Becker wishes to target
cannot be subject to execution.
Ohio is already somewhat of
an outlier in terms of the death penalty. Currently, the national trend is away
from the death penalty — six states have eliminated
death sentences in the
last six years — and actual executions are increasingly rare in states outside
of the south. In this regard, Ohio is very unusual. Next to Missouri, no other non-southern state
executes more people than Ohio:
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