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.”
On December 13, 2022, Governor Kate Brown announced that she would grant clemency to all 17 people on Oregon’s death row. Their sentences were commuted to life without parole.
Oregon executed two brothers (George and Charles Humphery) on the same day in 1913.
New Voices
Feb 21, 2023
In the February 2023 edition of Discussions with DPIC, former Oregon Superintendent of Prisons Frank Thompson speaks with DPIC Managing Director Anne Holsinger about how his experiences as a corrections officer — as well as being a murder v…
Clemency
Dec 14, 2022
Calling the death penalty “both dysfunctional and immoral,” Oregon Governor Kate Brown (pictured) has commuted the death sentences of the 17 prisoners on the state’s death row. The commutations, which the governor announced on Dec…
Public Opinion
Dec 06, 2022
In a year that featured massive campaign advertising attempting to portray legal reformers as responsible for increases in violent crime, candidates committed to criminal legal reform or who promised to continue statewide moratoria on executions p…
Recent Legislative Activity
Oct 08, 2021
In a decision that advocates say could clear the state’s death row, the Oregon Supreme Court (justices pictured) has overturned death-row prisoner David Ray Bartol’s death sentence because the crime he committed i…
Capital Case Development
Oct 06, 2021
An Oregon appellate court has granted a new trial to death-row prisoner Jesse Johnson, finding his trial counsel ineffective for failing to interview a neighbor of the homicide victim whose eyewitness testimony co…
Representation
Aug 04, 2020
The only woman on Oregon’s death row has been resentenced to life in prison. On August 3, 2020, the Lane County Circuit Court accepted a settlement agreement in which Lane County prosecutors agreed to drop their appeal of a 2019 r…
Conditions on Death Row
May 19, 2020
The Oregon Department of Corrections (DOC) has announced that it will close the state’s death row and integrate most of its capitally sentenced prisoners into the general prison population. The move reflects the continuing decline…
Crimes Punishable by Death
Dec 23, 2019
In a year of declining death-penalty usage across the United States, nowhere was the erosion of capital punishment as sustained and pronounced in 2019 as it was in the western United States. Continuing a wave of momentum from
Recent Legislative Activity
Aug 26, 2019
When Oregon’s legislators passed a new law limiting the scope of the state’s death penalty
Recent Legislative Activity
Aug 02, 2019
Calling the state’s death penalty “dysfunctional,” “costly,” and “immoral,” Oregon Governor Kate Brown (pictured, left, at signing ceremony) on August 1, 2019 signed a bill significantly limiting the crimes for wh…
