Ohio Governor Mike DeWine Opposes Death Penalty, Reversing Previous Stance

Republican Ohio Governor Mike DeWine declared his opposition to the death penalty on June 3, urging an end to a punishment he once helped restore in the state.

Speaking at a news conference, DeWine, 79, explained that as a young prosecutor and elected official, he once believed capital punishment could deter crime. However, he said that argument no longer holds up to factual analysis.

“I do not believe that that argument can be successfully proven today, nor do I believe that the facts that I once cited to support that belief will change in the future,” DeWine said. “Therefore, I believe that Ohio should abolish the death penalty.”

The governor’s shift comes as he concludes his second and final term. Term limits bar DeWine from seeking a third term in the November midterm election.

This public stance also puts him at odds with national Republican leadership. In April, President Donald Trump announced plans to expand the federal death penalty, including a proposal to use firing squads.

While a majority of Americans still support capital punishment, DeWine’s announcement comes amid growing public skepticism. Gallup polling shows support for the death penalty peaked at 80% in 1994, declining to 52% by 2025.

This trend is driven by a mix of procedural and moral arguments. Critics point out that Black and Latino defendants are sentenced to death at higher rates, indicating racial bias in sentencing. Concerns about wrongful executions also persist. Since 1973, the Death Penalty Information Center, an advocacy group, has documented 202 death row inmates who were later exonerated.

The frequency of botched executions has also raised human rights concerns, with some arguing capital punishment constitutes cruel and unusual punishment, prohibited by the U.S. Constitution.

DeWine questioned the “certainty and swiftness” of justice, arguing that death sentences take too long and are rarely carried out.

“In summary, each decade that the death penalty is in effect, the likelihood of a murderer being executed becomes more remote,” DeWine said.

Ohio’s current death penalty law has been in effect since 1981. DeWine, then a state legislator, was a co-sponsor of the law. But he and other lawmakers who voted for it have since reversed course and called for repeal.

Belief that the death penalty deters crime has also fallen sharply in recent decades. While 62% of those surveyed in 1985 agreed it deters murder, Gallup found only 32% believed that in 2011.

The last execution in Ohio took place in 2018, before DeWine took office. As governor, he has overseen a de facto moratorium by postponing scheduled executions. In 2021, he signed a law prohibiting the death penalty for defendants with severe mental illness.

In his June 3 speech, DeWine urged the state legislature to consider repealing the 1981 death penalty law or to put the issue to a referendum.

“The legislature can take this action, and I believe they should,” DeWine said. “But if the legislature does not want to make that decision, they can let the people of Ohio vote on it.”

Ohio House Speaker Matt Huffman, a Republican, said in February he would “fiercely oppose” any effort to repeal the death penalty. DeWine acknowledged speaking with Huffman and said they remain in disagreement.

“Reasonable people, over centuries, have stood on both sides of this issue,” DeWine said. “There are good people on both sides.”

While 23 states have banned the death penalty, it remains on the books in a majority of states, though some, including California and Oregon, have imposed moratoriums. Trump, meanwhile, has pledged to expand federal use of capital punishment, reversing the moratorium under former President Joe Biden. Near the end of his first term, Trump oversaw an unprecedented number of federal executions: 13 inmates were put to death between July 2020 and January 2021.