Ohio Governor Mike DeWine opposes death penalty, reversing past support

Published 16 June 2026 · us

Support for capital punishment has sharply declined in the United States, with several states rolling back its use. Republican Governor of Ohio Mike DeWine has

Support for capital punishment has sharply declined in the United States, with several states rolling back its use. Republican Governor of Ohio Mike DeWine has announced that he now opposes the death penalty, calling for an end to the punishment he once helped revive in his state. During a news conference on Tuesday, DeWine explained that, as a young prosecutor and elected official, he once believed that capital punishment could serve as a deterrent to crime. But that argument, he said, no longer stands up to 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,” the 79-year-old DeWine said. “Therefore, I believe Ohio should abolish the death penalty.” The governor’s change of heart comes as he reaches the end of his second and final term. Under Ohio’s term limits, DeWine is ineligible to compete for a third term in November’s midterm elections. His public shift also puts him at odds with the Republican Party establishment in the US. In April, Republican President Donald Trump announced plans to expand the use of the death penalty on the federal level, including through the proposed use of firing squads.

A majority of Americans still support the use of the death penalty. But DeWine’s announcement comes at a time when people in the US are increasingly sceptical of the punishment. The research firm Gallup shows that support for capital punishment reached a high of 80 percent in 1994 but has steadily fallen over the decades to 52 percent in 2025. That trend has been driven by a combination of procedural and moral arguments. Critics point out that Black and Latino defendants are over-represented on death row, suggesting racial bias in sentencing procedures. There are also concerns about wrongful executions. Since 1973, the Death Penalty Information Center, an advocacy group, notes that 202 people on death row were ultimately exonerated. The frequency of botched executions has also raised human rights concerns. Some have argued that the death penalty constitutes cruel and unusual punishment, which is prohibited by the US Constitution. DeWine, meanwhile, raised questions about the “certainty and swiftness” of justice being delivered. He argued that it generally takes longer to sentence someone to death, and the odds of the punishment being carried out are low. “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,” DeWine said.