Oregon governor commutes ‘immoral’ sentences of all death row inmates in final days in office
Rachel Schilke
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Gov. Kate Brown (D-OR) has commuted the death sentences of 17 inmates to life in prison without parole in one of her final moves in office.
Brown called the executions “dysfunctional and immoral” — a value many Oregonians share, she said in a statement.
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“I have long believed that justice is not advanced by taking a life, and the state should not be in the business of executing people — even if a terrible crime placed them in prison,” Brown said.
The commutations are not based upon rehabilitative efforts of those on death row, she said, but instead reflect the morality of the death penalty.
“It is an irreversible punishment that does not allow for correction; is wasteful of taxpayer dollars; does not make communities safer; and cannot be and never has been administered fairly and equitably,” she said.
Oregon is one of 27 states that continue to use the death penalty and one of three where the governor has imposed a moratorium, the others being California and Pennsylvania. Many Southern, Midwestern, and Western states use the death penalty, while most Northern states have abolished the policy.
Two people have died via the death penalty in Oregon since 1976, and no one has been executed since 1997.
Oregon has a tumultuous history of the death penalty, seeing it become law four separate times after voters either ousted it or it was struck down by the state Supreme Court. In 1984, it became law again, but an execution under the new law was not conducted until 1996.
Former Gov. John Kitzhaber (D-OR) declared a moratorium in November 2011, saying he refused to be part of a “comprised and inequitable system.”
Brown, once in office, announced the moratorium’s continuation on Feb. 18, 2015, and again in 2016 during her reelection campaign, saying there needs to be a “broader discussion” on fixing the criminal justice system. In 2016, 34 Oregonian prisoners were on death row.
The state legislature passed a bill in 2019 nearly abolishing the punishment.
Brown said she recognizes the pain and uncertainty victims feel while they wait for prisoners who spend decades on death row without any resolutions.
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“My hope is that this commutation will bring us a significant step closer to finality in these cases,” she said.
Brown will finish her term in office on Jan. 9, 2023. Democrat Tina Kotek will succeed her, and she said during her campaign that she would continue the death penalty moratorium.