Journalist: Ean Cloud (ORU)
In one of the closest voting results this session, 27 votes in the affirmative and 29 votes in the negative, the “Death Penalty Reform Act” failed the O.I.L. House of Representatives today. In the House itself as I searched the room for clues and some minuscule form of consensus. Most of the responses to those that heard the bill were mostly the simple words, “I don’t know” and those who had made a decision often did so more on personal grounds than the actual content of the bill.
The bill itself was both full of controversy and still carried much concern for the vast diversity of the citizens of Oklahoma. First the controversial part: The bill says, “The condemned shall be informed of a seven (7) day time frame in which their execution will occur.” Basically what this means is that if a person is given the death penalty, they will know the time frame of the execution, but never the day. To many in the chamber, this seemed exceedingly cruel, even for those convicted of a crime worthy of death. Yet the bill also had many provisions that softened its default harsh edge, for example executions were not allowed on Saturday or Sunday, and during the weekdays were only allowed from 12:00 pm to 8:00 pm that day. In addition, the bill also banned gas chambers.
There was a surprising amount of rights suddenly given to the convicted which was partly responsible for the split, for example, the prisoner can decide their method of execution, with of course, provisions on the other side of the political aisle that the US constitution would trump anything that the bill would require.
I asked many members what they felt about the bill, and the reaction ranged from enthusiasm to apathy, with some members even questioning the need for the bill in the first place, while others wanting to abstain, and others truly believing that the bill was a necessary step in the right direction, and this applied to both right and left sides. In all honesty, I am just very glad that this didn’t have to be decided via tiebreaker.