Oregon Governor Commutes All Death Row Sentences

Contributing sentiments towards policy:

50% : Voters' most recent decision on the death penalty was in 1984, when they inserted it into the state Constitution.
47% : "Will true life be true life?"Shirley noted that Guzek has been resentenced four times over the past 24 years as the Legislature has changed rules, though his death penalty sentence has been repeatedly upheld.
44% : But, of course, we've known for decades that the death penalty is unevenly applied based on race, class, and other distinctions.
42% : Voters have gone back and forth on the death penalty over the years, abolishing and reinstating it repeatedly.
42% :Oregon is one of 27 states that authorizes the death penalty, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.
42% : "Forty-eight jurors have said the just sentence was the death penalty, but that's been a moving target.
41% : In 2019, the Legislature passed a bill that limited the crimes that qualified for the death penalty by narrowing the definition of aggravated murder to killing two or more people as an act of organized terrorism; intentionally and with premeditation kilIing a child younger than 14; killing another person while locked up in jail or prison for a previous murder; or killing a police, correctional or probation officer.To me, that's just bizarre.
40% : That's just weird: the voters specifically put the death penalty into the state constitution in recent times but they have also elected back-to-back-to-back governors who refuse to carry out their duty.
40% : "Instead, it reflects the recognition that the death penalty is immoral.
39% : While I have come to oppose capital punishment in most cases, I have also come to believe the pardon power is antiquated and more likely to be abused than to serve any legitimate public good.
24% : Brown said in her statement Tuesday that commuting the sentences of people currently serving on Oregon's death row was consistent with what she described as lawmakers' "near abolition" of capital punishment.
21% : Governor-elect Tina Kotek, who like Brown and Kitzhaber is a Democrat, is personally opposed to the death penalty based on her religious beliefs and said during the campaign that she would continue the moratorium.
20% :More than two years have passed since the Brown administration dismantled Oregon's death row, a move that acknowledged the effective end of capital punishment in the state.

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