DistantNews
Support us
🇶🇦 Qatar /Crime & Justice

Ohio Governor Mike DeWine opposes death penalty, reversing past support

From Al Jazeera · () English

Summarized and contextualized by DistantNews.

At a glance

News Sources not specified New plan
  • Ohio Governor Mike DeWine announced his opposition to the death penalty, reversing his past support for capital punishment.
  • DeWine cited a lack of evidence that the death penalty deters crime and questioned the certainty and swiftness of its application.
  • His stance contrasts with some Republican Party elements and occurs as public support for the death penalty in the U.S. has declined.

Ohio Governor Mike DeWine has declared his opposition to the death penalty, a significant reversal from his earlier support for capital punishment, which he once helped revive in the state. The Republican governor stated that the argument for the death penalty as a crime deterrent no longer holds up under scrutiny.

"I do not believe that argument today can be successfully made, nor do I believe that there’s any chance in the future the facts that I’ve cited to support that belief will change," DeWine, 79, said at a news conference. "Therefore, I believe Ohio should abolish the death penalty."

This shift in his position comes as DeWine approaches the end of his second and final term as governor, making him ineligible to seek a third term due to Ohio's term limits. His public stance also places him at odds with some within the Republican Party establishment, including former President Donald Trump, who had announced plans to expand the federal use of the death penalty.

I do not believe that argument today can be successfully made, nor do I believe that there’s any chance in the future the facts that I’ve cited to support that belief will change. Therefore, I believe Ohio should abolish the death penalty.

— Mike DeWineGovernor DeWine explained his reasoning for opposing the death penalty.

While a majority of Americans still support capital punishment, public skepticism has grown. Gallup data shows support has fallen from a high of 80% in 1994 to 52% in 2025. This trend is influenced by concerns over racial bias in sentencing, wrongful exonerations (202 individuals on death row have been exonerated since 1973), and the frequency of botched executions, which critics argue constitute cruel and unusual punishment.

DeWine also raised concerns about the "certainty and swiftness" of justice in capital cases, noting that the process is lengthy and the likelihood of execution is low. Ohio's current death penalty statute was enacted in 1981, a law DeWine had co-sponsored.

In summary, each decade that the death penalty has been in effect, the chances of a murderer getting executed get more and more and more remote.

— Mike DeWineGovernor DeWine discussed the decreasing likelihood of the death penalty being carried out.
DistantNews Editorial

Originally published by Al Jazeera. Summarized and contextualized by our editorial team with added local perspective. Read our editorial standards.

More Stories

From Our Blog