State And Federal Info
The death penalty was first adopted in Oregon in 1864. Hangings were carried out publicly until 1903, when the Oregon Legislature amended the law and moved executions to the Oregon State Penitentiary.
Oregon abolished the death penalty in 1914 via popular vote. It was reinstated again in 1920, also by popular vote. In 1964, Oregon voters once again voted to repeal the death penalty. On Nov. 5, 1964, two days after Oregon voters abolished the death penalty for the second time, then-Gov. Mark O. Hatfield commuted the death sentences of the three inmates on death row, including the only woman ever to be sentenced to death in Oregon.
The death penalty was reinstated by popular vote in 1978.
In 1981, the Oregon Supreme Court declared the death penalty unconstitutional, but Oregon voters reinstated capital punishment in 1984.
On November 22, 2011, Governor John Kitzhaber declared a moratorium on executions, saying “I refuse to be a part of this compromised and inequitable system any longer; and I will not allow further executions while I am Governor.” Both of Oregon’s post-Furman executions happened during Kitzhaber’s first administration as governor. Both inmates dropped their appeals and “volunteered” for execution. Of those two executions, Kitzhaber said, “I was torn between my personal convictions about the morality of capital punishment and my oath to uphold the Oregon constitution. They were the most agonizing and difficult decisions I have made as Governor and I have revisited and questioned them over and over again during the past 14 years.”
Saying “[t]here needs to be a broader discussion about fixing the system,” Governor Kate Brown announced on February 18, 2015, that she would continue the state’s moratorium on executions. Brown said “[u]ntil that discussion, I will be upholding the moratorium imposed by Gov. Kitzhaber.”
Oregon executed two brothers (George and Charles Humphery) on the same day in 1913.
Recent Legislative Activity
May 28, 2019
An amended bill to narrow the circumstances in which the death penalty may be imposed in Oregon has easily passed the state senate. On May 21, 2019, by a vote of 18 – 9, the Oregon Senate passed SB 1013, whic…
Arbitrariness
Mar 13, 2019
Statements from Governors of California, Pennsylvania, Washington, Colorado, and Oregon Halting Executions In the past few years, the governors of California, Pennsylvania, Washington, Colorado, and Oregon have put a halt to executions i…
Victims
Feb 01, 2019
Efforts to repeal the death penalty have often focused on the needs of murder victims’ families. For example, in Connecticut, 179 murder victims’ families signed a letter to legislators, which stated, Our direct experiences with …
Recent Legislative Activity
Dec 26, 2018
Empowered by the results of the November 2018 mid-term elections, legislatures in at least four states are poised to renew efforts to repeal their states’ death-penalty statutes or drastically reduce the circumstances in which capital pun…
Public Opinion
Nov 07, 2018
The results of the November 6, 2018 mid-term elections reflected America’s deeply divided views on capital punishment, as voters elected governors who pledged not to resume executions in the three states with death-penalty moratoriums, defeated an…
Victims
Jan 10, 2018
Family members of murder victims share no single, uniform response to the death penalty, but two recent publications illustrate that a growing number of these families are now advocating against capital punishment. In From Death Into Life…
Intellectual Disability
Dec 23, 2016
Most of the prisoners on Oregon’s death row suffer from significant mental impairments, according a study released on December 20, 2016 by the Fair Punishment Project at Harvard University. The Project’s analysis …
Costs
Nov 16, 2016
A new study by Lewis & Clark Law School and Seattle University that examined the costs of hundreds of aggravated murder and murder cases in Oregon has concluded that “maintaining the death penalty incurs a significant financia…
Public Opinion
Nov 10, 2016
Prosecutors in three counties known for their outlier practices on the death penalty were defeated by challengers running on reform platforms, while voters in Oregon and Washington re-elected governors who acted to halt executions. In Hill…
New Voices
Sep 21, 2016
Semon Frank Thompson (pictured), a former superintendent at the Oregon State Penitentiary, oversaw both of the executions carried out under Oregon’s death pe…
