COLUMBUS — Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine announced Tuesday he wants the state to abolish the death penalty.
DeWine said Ohio’s history with capital punishment has proven the measure is not a deterrent to murder. The governor made the announcement in a nine-page press release that included charts, graphs and letters from prison administrators in the PDF below.
The announcement marks a sea change in DeWine’s position on the issue, a shift he acknowledged in the press release.
DeWine, a former county prosecutor, was co-sponsor of Senate Bill 1, a measure to reinstitute Ohio’s death penalty. It was signed into law by then-Gov. James Rhodes on Oct. 19, 1981.
However, after nearly 45 years, DeWine said data no longer supports capital punishment as the deterrent it was intended.
DeWine’s statement included the following quotes:
“For the State to take a human life, there must be evidence that in doing so, it will help protect the public — that the threat of that action will deter someone from committing murder.
“For the reasons stated above, I do not believe that argument can today be made. Nor do I believe that there is any chance in the future the facts I have cited to support that belief will change.
“Therefore, I believe Ohio should abolish the death penalty.
“The Legislature can take this action, and I believe they should take this action. But, if the Legislature does not want to make that decision, they can leave it up to a vote of the people of the State of Ohio.”
“Throughout my career, I have always stated that the most important way to protect the public is to lock up violent criminals and to keep them out of society. That is a proven way of saving lives and protecting our citizens.
“Our money and energies are much better spent focusing on keeping these repeat violent offenders out of society, than focusing on the death penalty.
“Any decision to officially end the death penalty in Ohio cannot change the horror and the anger we feel in regard to these murderers nor the deep sorrow we feel for the victims and for their families.
“We cannot sanitize this discussion. These murderers ended the life of a precious human being.
“These murderers have changed the lives of the surviving family members forever.
“Their lives will never be the same.”
‘It is today impossible to make the case the death penalty is a deterrent’
“It is clear that the death penalty is being handed down much less frequently than it was when it was first passed in 1981.
“In fact, the decline has been steady in each decade. Further, the wait time between sentencing and execution (for those who don’t die first or have a court intervene for them) has remained very, very long, and with no indication at all that that will change.
“In summary, each decade that the death penalty has been in effect, the chances of a murderer getting executed get more and more remote.
“The conclusion I draw from all of this is that it is today impossible to make the case that the death penalty is a deterrent.
“I no longer believe the death penalty is a deterrent to murder.
“The moral justification I had for voting for the death penalty simply no longer exists.”