Ohio Governor Mike DeWine said this week that the state should abolish the death penalty. “It is impossible today to make the case that the death penalty is a deterrent,” DeWine said at a June 16 press conference. The Republican governor called on Ohio lawmakers to take action legislatively or send the issue to voters.
Ohio’s death penalty was reinstated in 1981, after then-Senator DeWine co-sponsored legislation to resume the practice. DeWine said that he believed at the time that it would deter violent crime, but that “the moral justification I had for voting for the death penalty simply no longer exists.” DeWine also emphasized the toll that capital punishment takes on those tasked with carrying it out.
Brian Hickey, Executive Director of the Ohio Catholic Conference, praised DeWine in a statement, highlighting that several Ohio death row inmates had found redemption through the Catholic Church and “have repented of their egregious crimes and seek to live as witness to a better way of life through prayer, penance, and service to other inmates.” Hickey stated that DeWine’s comments “continue his pro-life legacy” and praised the governor’s focus on crime victims and their families instead of “perpetuating more violence.”