OTSE seeks a new Executive Director

OHIOANS TO STOP EXECUTIONS (OTSE), an Ohio-based, state-wide non-profit organization working to end the death penalty in Ohio, seeks to hire an Executive Director.

Using a coordinated, strategic, and empowerment-oriented approach, OTSE works to build and mobilize public and political support for abolition of capital punishment. Our core objectives include reducing death sentences, stopping executions, and changing the statewide conversation about the death penalty so as to achieve abolition. We work towards repeal by highlighting the tremendous bipartisan support for abolition, informing Ohioans about the death penalty’s exorbitant costs and wastefulness as no societal benefits accrue, demonstrating the risk of wrongful executions, and exposing and challenging the racial bias and arbitrariness that are inherent in the death penalty system.

Coordinator of Conservative Outreach Job Description

Ohioans to Stop Executions (OTSE) is the only single-issue death penalty repeal nonprofit organization in the state of Ohio. Our mission is simple: to abolish the death penalty in Ohio through grassroots advocacy, public education, and legislative action. OTSE is the organization leading the #NoDeathPenaltyOH campaign, which represents millions of Ohioans who support repealing the death penalty, and works with dozens of organizations across the state to make this happen. There are currently two bipartisan supported bills in Ohio’s legislature – SB 103 and HB 183 – that will abolish Ohio’s death penalty.

Letter: Ohio must follow other states’ leads and abolish death penalty

The first death row inmate to be statutorily removed from death row due to severe mental illness at the time of his crime was resentenced to life imprisonment without parole last week. This first exemption is a welcome small step in our movement away from the death penalty, but it is time to abandon the […]

Letter to the Editor: Death penalty offers only a false promise of closure and justice

I read Kyle Kirker’s op-ed “Schmidt wrong to put convicts above victims” and as someone who lost a loved one to murder, I can tell you that Mr. Kirker is extremely wrong in his assessment of HB 183 and the abolition of Ohio’s death penalty. I applaud Rep. Jean Schmidt and her efforts to abolish […]

Death penalty ban supporters make pitch to Ohio state senators

TOLEDO, Ohio (WTVG) – Ohio hasn’t carried out an execution since Gov. Mike DeWine took office and there are none on the calendar this year. Still, the death penalty is legal in the state, and a bipartisan group of lawmakers hope there is enough support this year to make Ohio the 24th state to ban […]

Bill to abolish death penalty gets 2nd hearing in Ohio Senate committee

Columbus, Ohio (WSYX) — Members of an Ohio Senate committee will hear from supporters of a new bill to abolish the death penalty. The Senate Judiciary Committee is holding the second hearing for SB 103 Wednesday, which has bipartisan support with seven Democrats and four Republicans among the sponsors and co-sponsors. Read more here.

By ending the death penalty, we can divert resources where they’re really needed

It’s time to end the death penalty in Ohio, and particularly in Cuyahoga County. According to a recent study, Cuyahoga County had the nation’s 133rd highest homicide rate from 1972 to 2019. Yet as noted in the May 5 Plain Dealer, astonishingly, we ranked 12th in the nation in sentencing people to death during that […]

Sample phone scripts

Sample phone scripts for calling Senators on Senate Bill 103 “Hi, my name is ___ and I’m a constituent of Senator ___. I’m calling because I’m opposed to the death penalty and I wanted to express my support for Senate Bill 103. Ohio has sent 11 innocent people to death row. For every five people […]