Sister Helen Prejean sees hope of Ohio's death penalty

By Katherine Plcoder

Ohio-in an op-ED published in the blade pressed sister Helen Prejean, a long-term crime against death, growing hope that Ohio will be about to abolish the death penalty.

Prejean, who has spent decades to accompany people in the death cell and to listen to the families of both the detainees and their victims, wrote that the state is located in a “hopeful place”, where the hearts open and people are ready for changes “.

Even the prosecutor of Ohio, she noticed, admitted that the system did not work. But for Prejean, the problem goes deeper. “It is never just a question of whether it works. It's a question whether it is right,” she wrote.

Prejean remembered to learn from people across the country “sister, we are ready” what a national dynamic pointed out to end the death penalty. In Ohio, she sees that this willingness is getting stronger.

“I saw what this system all power,” wrote Prejean and described the emotional tribute of those who were sentenced to die, their families and the families of their victims. She teaches her Catholic faith that “justice is rooted in mercy”, and she has experienced the possibility of redemption first.

She told a prison attendant who said to her: “You know who often takes over the most trustworthy roles in this prison? Men in prison for murder.” Her snack: change and grow people, but the death penalty “pretends that they don't do it”.

Prejean's own transformation began for the first time when she entered the death cell. “What the eye does not see cannot feel the heart,” she quoted. “I saw. I felt. And it improved my soul.”

She argued that the system is deeply incorrect and discriminatory. “It is not justice that decides who lives and who dies. It is poverty. It is breed. It is geography. It is politics,” she wrote. Ohio, she believes, has a strong moral compass – and this feeling of fairness does a settlement.

Prejean referred to the more than 200 people relieved by the center in the United States, including 11 in Ohio, as proof of a broken system. DNA evidence, she wrote, “destroyed” the myth of an infallible judicial system.

She also noticed racist differences: black defendants, especially in cases in which white victims were involved, are exposed to the death penalty with disproportionate installments. Some counties in Ohio make up most of the death sentences of the state and defy the requirement of the Supreme Court in the United States that the death penalty is not arbitrary or biased.

The Task Force for Ohio's own capital penalty reminded the readers, who described the death penalty as “more complex, more constant changes and with more mistakes” than in any other legal area.

She quoted trends in other states: Indiana has not imposed a new death sentence for over a decade, and Pennsylvania has not carried out anyone for 25 years. Even Florida and Texas, once the managers of designs, are now the list to condemn illegal beliefs.

For the families of the victims, Prejean wrote, the death penalty offers a longer trauma – no healing. “We offer you a different murder in the front row as if that is healing,” she said. “But so many families I heard wanted something completely different – support, advice, financial help and a way to get ahead.”

What Prejean gives hope, she said that “something shifts in Ohio”. Surveys show growing support for the cancellation. Interest representatives such as Ohioan to stop the executions become stronger and more diverse and focus on the truth.

“Act is a free thing,” she concluded. “When we start to act, we are no longer troubled in fear or indecisiveness. We move. And we not only become agents of justice – but better ourselves.”

The time has come for sister Helen Prejean. Ohio is ready.

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