Frank Thompson, a for­mer state pen­i­ten­tiary war­den, has recent­ly joined efforts to repeal the death penal­ty in Oregon. Thompson, who super­vised the only two exe­cu­tions car­ried out in the state since cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment was rein­stat­ed in 1984, described the death penal­ty as a ​“failed pub­lic pol­i­cy,” and said that ​“cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment fails ter­ri­bly in meet­ing any evi­dence-based out­comes.” Thompson, who recent­ly joined the Advisory Council of Oregonians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty, said the state can­not afford the death penal­ty dur­ing these tough eco­nom­ic times when Oregon is threat­en­ing lay­offs and cuts in pub­lic ser­vices. He esti­mat­ed the cost of main­tain­ing the state’s death penal­ty sys­tem as $9 – 20 mil­lion each year, and said he sup­ports life with­out parole as an alter­na­tive to cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment. In November 2011, Governor John Kitzhaber declared a mora­to­ri­um on all exe­cu­tions in the state, call­ing on leg­is­la­tors to bring poten­tial death penal­ty reforms to the 2013 leg­isla­tive ses­sion and to con­sid­er alter­na­tives to the death penal­ty. Thompson remarked, ​“I think tak­ing anoth­er look at cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment is very time­ly, and with the gov­er­nor’s deci­sion it real­ly moves it to the forefront.” 

(A. Gustafson, ​“Former Oregon war­den seeks end to death penal­ty,” Oregon Statesman-Journal, January 15, 2012). See New Voices and Costs. See also Oregonians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty.

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