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By Jordan King
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Republican Governor Mike DeWine called for the death penalty to be abolished in Ohio, drawing attention to a widening divide across the U.S., where some states have abolished or paused executions while others continue to carry them out or expand their use. Newsweek has mapped this out.
On Tuesday, DeWine, 79, argued the death penalty was no longer effective, marking a significant reversal for the governor, despite having helped author Ohio's reinstatement of capital punishment as a legislator 45 years ago.
Ohio's debate reflects a broader national patchwork. While 23 states and the District of Columbia have abolished the death penalty, others continue to carry out executions, while four have paused the practice through executive action. The map below shows the current status of capital punishment across all 50 states.
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The current U.S. death penalty system dates to 1976, when the Supreme Court allowed states to resume executions after a four-year pause. The moratorium followed a ruling that existing death penalty laws were being applied inconsistently, leading states to rewrite their death penalty statutes.
A Republican Governor's Reversal on the Death Penalty
At a news conference, DeWine pointed to his decades of experience with Ohio's criminal justice system – he was a prosecuting attorney in Greene County before he was elected to the state Senate in 1980, when Ohio had no death penalty.
Capital punishment was reinstated in 1981, with legislation that DeWine was instrumental in writing, according to The Associated Press.
But he said on Tuesday: "For the state to take a human life, there must, in my opinion, 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.
"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," he said. "Therefore, I believe Ohio should abolish the death penalty."
DeWine cited data showing that death sentences and executions have become increasingly rare, while inmates often spend decades on death row. He said many condemned prisoners now die before they can be executed.
The last time someone was executed in Ohio was in 1963, when 29-year-old Donald Reinbolt was executed with the electric chair for murdering grocer Edgar L. Weaver, according to the Death Penalty Information Center. Ohio currently has 114 people on death row.
Whether Ohio ultimately abolishes the death penalty may be decided by DeWine's successor. The Republican governor is term-limited and will leave office in January 2027 following the November 2026 election. Among the candidates seeking to replace him are former presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy and former Ohio Department of Health Director Amy Acton. Newsweek has contacted both via online contact form and email, respectively, for comment.
Death Penalty States
Alabama
Alabama remains one of the nation's most active death penalty states and continues to carry out executions, with five people executed in 2025, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.
The state has carried out 83 executions since the modern death penalty era began in 1976, and 708 before that.
In 2024, Alabama became the first state to execute a prisoner using nitrogen gas when it put Kenneth Eugene Smith to death, introducing a controversial new execution method after years of difficulties obtaining drugs for lethal injections.
Texas
Texas remains the nation's most active death penalty state and has carried out more executions than any other since the modern era of capital punishment began in 1976 – 600.
The state continues to sentence inmates to death and regularly conducts executions.
Supporters argue the death penalty serves as a deterrent and delivers justice for victims, while opponents continue to raise concerns about wrongful convictions, racial disparities and the lengthy appeals process.
South Carolina
South Carolina resumed executions in 2024 after a 13-year pause, making it one of the most closely watched death penalty states in the country. The state has authorized multiple execution methods, including lethal injection, the electric chair and the firing squad, reflecting efforts to overcome difficulties obtaining lethal injection drugs.
Kansas
Kansas retains the death penalty, but it has not carried out an execution since reinstating capital punishment in 1994.
The state continues to sentence some offenders to death, yet decades of legal challenges and appeals have prevented any executions from taking place. As a result, Kansas has become an example of a state where the death penalty remains available as a punishment but is rarely, if ever, implemented in practice.
Other states:
Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Utah, Wyoming, Alabama and South Carolina.
States That Have Abolished the Death Penalty
Virginia
Virginia abolished the death penalty in 2021, becoming the first Southern state to do so. The move marked a major shift for a state that had historically been one of the nation's most active users of capital punishment.
Virginia executed a higher percentage of its death-row prisoners than any other state in the modern era before ending the practice, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.
New Hampshire
New Hampshire abolished the death penalty in 2019 after lawmakers voted to override a veto from then-Governor Chris Sununu. The repeal made New Hampshire the last state in New England to end capital punishment.
According to the Death Penalty Information Center, no executions have been carried out in the state since 1939, illustrating how some states moved to abolish the death penalty after decades without using it.
Michigan
Michigan has one of the longest histories of opposition to capital punishment in the United States. The state abolished the death penalty for murder in 1846, becoming the first English-speaking government in the world to do so, according to the Death Penalty Information Center. The decision came more than a century before the modern debate over capital punishment and helped establish Michigan as an early example of a state rejecting executions as a form of criminal punishment.
Other states:
Alaska, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Iowa, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Dakota, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin and Washington, D.C.
Where Capital Punishment Is on Hold
California
California retains the death penalty and has the nation's largest death row population, but executions have been on hold since 2006. In 2019, Governor Gavin Newsom imposed a moratorium on executions, arguing that the death penalty system is unfair and ineffective. Despite the pause, courts can still sentence offenders to death, leaving California in a legal middle ground between abolition and active use of capital punishment.
Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania has maintained a moratorium on executions since 2015, when then-Governor Tom Wolf suspended the practice pending a review of the state's death penalty system. While capital punishment remains legal and inmates remain on death row, no executions have been carried out under the moratorium. The state has become a prominent example of how governors can effectively halt executions without changing the law.
Oregon
Oregon's death penalty remains on the books, but executions have been paused under successive governors for more than a decade. In addition to the moratorium, lawmakers significantly narrowed the crimes eligible for the death penalty in 2019. According to the Death Penalty Information Center, Oregon now has one of the country's most restricted capital punishment systems, despite retaining death sentences for a small number of inmates already on death row.
Ohio
Ohio has not carried out an execution since 2018, largely because of difficulties obtaining drugs used in lethal injections. Governor Mike DeWine has repeatedly delayed scheduled executions and this week called for the death penalty to be abolished altogether, arguing it no longer serves as an effective deterrent. Despite the pause, Ohio still has more than 100 inmates on death row, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.
Where Abolition Efforts Are Gaining Momentum
Bills to abolish the death penalty have recently been introduced in states including Kansas, Kentucky, Ohio, Texas and Nebraska, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.
In Kansas, lawmakers have repeatedly considered repeal measures as the state continues to maintain a death penalty system that has never carried out an execution since being reinstated in 1994. Kentucky has also seen bipartisan efforts to replace capital punishment with life imprisonment without parole, while Nebraska lawmakers continue to debate the future of a punishment voters reinstated in a 2016 referendum after legislators voted to abolish it.
Despite remaining the nation's leading execution state, Texas has also seen efforts to limit or abolish capital punishment. According to the Death Penalty Information Center, legislation to abolish the death penalty was introduced in Texas during the 2025 legislative session. Lawmakers have also considered measures that would exempt defendants with severe mental illness or intellectual disabilities from execution.
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