[ "Justice is not advanced by taking a life, and the state should
not be in the business of executing people," said Gov. Kate Brown.]
[[link removed]]

‘THIS IS BIG’: OREGON GOV. COMMUTES DEATH SENTENCES, DISMANTLES
STATE EXECUTION CHAMBER  
[[link removed]]


 

Julia Conley
December 14, 2022
Common Dreams
[[link removed]]


*
[[link removed]]
*
[[link removed]]
*
*
[[link removed]]

_ "Justice is not advanced by taking a life, and the state should not
be in the business of executing people," said Gov. Kate Brown. _

Oregon Gov. Kate Brown, US Department of Labor

 

HUMAN RIGHTS ADVOCATES ARE applauding Oregon Gov. Kate Brown, a
Democrat, after she announced Tuesday that she would commute the
sentences of all 17 of the state's death row inmates and shut down its
execution chamber.

Brown told 
[[link removed]]_Oregon
Public Broadcasting_ that she believes the death penalty is "both
dysfunctional and immoral."

"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," said the governor, who is term-limited and will be
replaced by Gov.-elect Tina Kotek, also a Democrat who opposes capital
punishment, next month.

The sentences of the 17 people on death row will be commuted to life
prison sentences without the possibility of parole.

Maurice Chammah of The Marshall Project praised Brown for taking
decisive action to end a practice she opposes and compared her
announcement to less far-reaching decisions made by other Democrats in
recent years.

Previously, Brown granted clemency to nearly 1,000 people during the
coronavirus pandemic and allowed dozens of people convicted of crimes
they committed when they were under the age of 18 to apply for
clemency.

Oregon officials have taken several steps
[[link removed]] in
recent years to end the use of capital punishment in the state. No one
has been executed by the state since 1997, and Brown has continued a
moratorium on executions that was established in 2011 by then-Gov.
John Kitzhaber.

State legislators narrowed the definition of what constitutes a
capital offense in 2019, and in 2020 the Oregon Department of
Corrections began housing people with death sentences in special
maximum security housing units and among the general prison population
instead of on death row.

A public referendum is needed to remove capital punishment from the
state Constitution.

Bobbin Singh of the Oregon Justice Resource Center noted that death
sentences have been overturned in the state due to new evidence being
uncovered.

"By all objective metrics, the death penalty is a failed
policy," said 
[[link removed]]Singh.
"It risks executing innocent people and Oregon is not immune to the
causes of wrongful conviction seen around the country."

"Oregon enters a new era today where the values that make our state
better come to the forefront and we leave behind the death penalty of
a cruel past," he added.

_Julia Conley is a staff writer for Common Dreams._

* Death Penalty
[[link removed]]
* Oregon
[[link removed]]
* abolition
[[link removed]]
* Governor Kate Brown
[[link removed]]

*
[[link removed]]
*
[[link removed]]
*
*
[[link removed]]

 

 

 

INTERPRET THE WORLD AND CHANGE IT

 

 

Submit via web
[[link removed]]

Submit via email
Frequently asked questions
[[link removed]]

Manage subscription
[[link removed]]

Visit xxxxxx.org
[[link removed]]

Twitter [[link removed]]

Facebook [[link removed]]

 




[link removed]

To unsubscribe, click the following link:
[link removed]