A recent arti­cle by Professor Aliza Kaplan (pic­tured) of the Lewis & Clark Law School exam­ines Oregon​’s death penal­ty in light of the action take by the state’s gov­er­nor, John Kitzhaber, to halt all exe­cu­tions. The arti­cle explores the his­to­ry of Oregon’s death penal­ty, the risk of wrong­ful con­vic­tions, and the costs asso­ci­at­ed with main­tain­ing cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment. Kaplan found that exe­cu­tions are car­ried out very rarely, and, since 1976 only in instances where the inmate waived his appeals. According to one esti­mate cit­ed by Kaplan, the cost of putting a per­son to death in Oregon is at least 50% more, and may be up to five times as much as the cost of a life with­out parole sen­tence. For exam­ple, Oregon tax­pay­ers have paid approx­i­mate­ly $2.2 mil­lion on the case of Randy Lee Guzek, who has been on death row for 24 years and is still not at the end of his appeals. Kaplan con­cludes, ​“While cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment remains on the books in Oregon, it is car­ried out rarely and only for vol­un­teers; it moves at a snail’s pace and is absorb­ing mil­lions of dol­lars. Oregon’s death penal­ty is long over­due for an exam­i­na­tion as a pub­lic pol­i­cy; its prob­lems and alleged ben­e­fits should be weighed.”

(A. Kaplan, ​“Oregon’s Death Penalty: The Practical Reality,” 17 Lewis & Clark Law Review 1 (2013); DPIC post­ed April 9, 2013). See Costs, Oregon and Law Reviews.

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