OKLAHOMA CITY — The Oklahoma Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty (OK-CADP) announced this week that it will welcome State Sen. Nikki Nice to the state Capitol on Oct. 9 to discuss the 24th Annual World Day Against the Death Penalty and the need to dismantle myths linking capital punishment to public safety.
The World Day Against the Death Penalty occurs every year on Oct. 10. Initiated in 2003, it is described by OK-CADP as a day to “advocate for the abolition of the death penalty and to raise awareness of the conditions and the circumstances which affect prisoners with death sentences. [It] mobilizes civil society, political leaders, lawyers, public opinion and more to support the call for the universal abolition of capital punishment. [It] also raises awareness about the severe conditions and circumstances that affect people sentenced to death.”
According to OK-CADP, more than 160 nongovernmental organizations, bar associations and local authorities make up the World Coalition Against the Death Penalty, which launched the day.
The focus of this year’s gathering is to challenge the misconception that the death penalty makes people and communities safer. OK-CADP describes the “security argument” as political and says it “threatens human dignity and reinforces social and economic disparities by disproportionately affecting marginalized groups.”
Nice will be joined by OK-CADP executive board member and ACLU of Counsel Randy Bauman, Julius Jones Institute co-founder Antoinette Jones and NAACP State Conference President Bernard Allen-Bey.
Of particular importance to OK-CADP is the Death Penalty Moratorium Bill expected to come to a vote in January 2026. The coalition says the bill has bipartisan support, stemming from recommendations published by the 2017 Oklahoma Death Penalty Review Commission. “This report was researched and authored by 11 politically bipartisan and personally diverse Oklahomans, enunciating 46 recommendations to reform the state’s death penalty,” the press release states.
The release also quotes former Gov. Brad Henry, co-chair of the Oklahoma Death Penalty Review Commission, as saying, “It is undeniable that innocent people have been sentenced to death in Oklahoma.”
OK-CADP Chair Elizabeth Overman said, “The bipartisan Oklahoma Death Penalty Review Commission was created in the wake of the ‘botched’ executions of Mr. Clayton Lockett and Mr. Charles Warner, and the near execution of Mr. Richard Glossip. To date, not one of the recommendations has been taken up.”
Referring to a February 2023 poll, OK-CADP said “78% of Oklahoma voters supported a moratorium on the death penalty.” It also cited a report from the Death Penalty Information Center concluding that “average cases without the death penalty cost $740,000 each, while cases where the death penalty is sought cost $1.26 million. Maintaining each death row prisoner costs taxpayers $90,000 more per year than a prisoner in the general population.”
“But of all the reasons to abolish the death penalty, the fact that there are no ‘do-overs’ should give pause to those implementing America’s deadliest punishment,” the OK-CADP press release concludes.
The coalition noted that “201 people have been exonerated from death row across America, including 11 in Oklahoma.” It also stated, “There are 23 states, plus the District of Columbia, that have abolished the death penalty. Worldwide, in total, 144 countries have abolished the death penalty in law and in practice. The countries that still practice the death penalty include: China, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Japan, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Somalia, Vietnam, Yemen and the United States.”
OK-CADP estimates that, as of January 2025, “approximately 2,100 men and women are facing active death sentences in the United States,” including 28 in Oklahoma.
Follow the Vanguard on Social Media – X, Instagram and Facebook. Subscribe the Vanguard News letters. To make a tax-deductible donation, please visit davisvanguard.org/donate or give directly through ActBlue. Your support will ensure that the vital work of the Vanguard continues.
