Oregon’s New Governor Plans to Continue Death Penalty Moratorium

In her first press con­fer­ence since tak­ing office on February 18, Oregon Governor Kate Brown said she will con­tin­ue the mora­to­ri­um on exe­cu­tions that for­mer Governor John Kitzhaber imposed in 2011. ​“There needs to be a broad­er dis­cus­sion about fix­ing the sys­tem,” Brown said. ​“Until that dis­cus­sion, I will be uphold­ing the mora­to­ri­um imposed by Gov. Kitzhaber.” When the for­mer gov­er­nor announced the mora­to­ri­um, he also called for a statewide dis­cus­sion about cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment, say­ing, ​“I am call­ing on the leg­is­la­ture to bring poten­tial reforms before the 2013 leg­isla­tive ses­sion and encour­age all Oregonians to engage in the long over­due debate that this impor­tant issue deserves. I am con­vinced we can find a bet­ter solu­tion that keeps soci­ety safe, sup­ports the vic­tims of crime and their fam­i­lies and reflects Oregon val­ues.” Oregon has car­ried out only two exe­cu­tions since 1976, and none since 1997. There are cur­rent­ly 36 peo­ple on Oregon’s death row.

(J. Cooper, ​“New Oregon Governor Will Continue Death Penalty Moratorium,” Associated Press, February 20, 2015.) See New Voices and Recent Legislation.