Opinion: Reimagining justice: Why the death penalty should be left in the past

In January 2024, Ohio lawmakers proposed a bill that would allow execution by nitrogen gas asphyxiation. Credit: Tracy Glantz via TNS [Original caption: People advocate to stop the scheduled execution of Freddie Owens during a protest outside Broad River Correctional Institution on Friday, Sept. 20, 2024. The event was organized by South Carolinians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty.]

I had just turned 14 when my life resembled that of an American classic killer-next-door story. 

My 13-year-old neighbor fatally shot his 11-year-old brother — a horrifying act subsequently reduced by local media to mismanaged behavioral choices. My own experience with the brothers, however, was deeper than something that could merely be classified as a tragic incident. It was a glaring reflection of systemic failure when it comes to society’s attitude toward crime.   

Capital punishment is, and always has been, a hypocritical act that disproportionately affects marginalized communities. It punishes individuals whose circumstances are deeply rooted in systemic failures rather than personal shortcomings. 

In January 2024, Ohio lawmakers proposed a bill that would allow execution by nitrogen gas asphyxiation — a method that deprives the body of oxygen and has been criticized by the U.N. Human Rights Office for potentially violating treaties against cruel and inhumane punishment.

On Sept. 26 in Alabama, Alan Eugene Miller, who was convicted of killing three men in 1999, became the second person in the United States to be executed by nitrogen gas. According to NPR, as he lay on the gurney, Miller struggled against his restraints for two minutes, periodically gasping for air for six minutes before becoming still. 

His execution was one of five carried out that week, with his last words being, “I didn’t do anything to be in here,” according to NPR. Regardless of his claim’s veracity, Miller’s execution highlights a troubling reality that persists within our system, in which cruel and unusual punishment is permitted.

According to the Equal Justice Initiative — a nonprofit that addresses excessive punishment and racial inequality — there is no scientific support for nitrogen being an efficient or painless execution method. If the American Veterinary Medical Association deems nitrogen gas unsuitable for euthanizing animals because of its distressing side effects, how can we justify its use on humans? 

The uncomfortable truth is that many Americans dehumanize inmates, viewing them as less than animals. Such a mindset raises another critical question: If we believe murder is wrong, how can we reconcile that belief with state-sanctioned executions?

For every eight people executed in the United States, at least one person on death row has been exonerated, the majority of whom couldn’t afford adequate counsel during trial, according to the Equal Justice Initiative. 

Most recently, Marcellus Williams was executed Sept. 24 in Missouri, despite the prosecution and victim’s family calling to vacate his conviction after DNA evidence found at the crime scene suggested he was innocent, according to the Midwest Innocence Project.  

I am not advocating for a lack of justice for victims; however, when combining a long list of fees — including legal, pre-trial, jury selection, trial, required solitary confinement and appeal costs — death row inmates in Ohio cost the state between $1 to $3 million more than those sentenced to life in prison, according to the Ohio Capital Journal. 

Moreover, the death penalty has not proven to be more effective than imprisonment in deterring crime, which underscores the inefficiency and aimlessness of these expensive efforts, according to the Ohio Capital Journal.

Beyond its financial burdens, inhumane qualities and inefficiency in deterring criminal activity, the death penalty is marred by systemic discrimination. 

A May 2024 report from the Death Penalty Information Center revealed a troubling racial disparity in Ohio’s death sentences: Despite Black individuals comprising 66% of murder victims in the state, 75% of death sentences involve cases with at least one white victim. 

In other words, the justice system cares more for victims if they are white than Black. 

Additionally, the Bureau of Justice Statistics reported that roughly 60% of those on Ohio’s death row are Black, despite only making up 14.5% of the state’s population. 

This stark reality reflects a justice system that has perpetuated racial inequalities that disproportionately affect marginalized communities, all while society fixates on individual behavior rather than the systemic issues at play. 

Beyond Ohio, 41% of those on death row are Black, despite only making up 13% of the United States population, according to the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers. 

In its efforts to be objective, our system has become colorblind, overlooking the influences of power, race, social structures and systemic issues on social groups.  

A shift toward a rehabilitative approach, rather than one centered on retribution, is essential for reducing crime and supporting communities. Capital punishment is not only a financial burden for taxpayers but also a form of inhumane punishment that perpetuates America’s troubling history.  

My neighbor is, by legal definition, a murderer, but he was also a victim of his circumstances. Neglected and abused throughout his childhood, he received mental health support too late. 

Had he been raised in a nurturing environment — free from the grip of his biological mother’s addiction and indifference of a caregiver who rarely engaged with him — and had access to appropriate resources, we might be having a different conversation today. 

His actions were not solely the failure of him as an individual, but the outcome of a profound shortcoming of a system that allows such tragedies to unfold. 

A focus on addressing societal needs — gun control, mental health access, poverty reduction, residential desegregation and an improved social services system — is needed more than a new way to inhumanely execute those most negatively impacted by these issues. 

Crime victims deserve justice, but offenders have long suffered as victims themselves under an inherently flawed system. If we assert that murder is wrong, we must not allow the government to engage in the same act. Ohio is long overdue for a reevaluation of its approach to justice and the construction of a more equitable system.