Oregon Gov. Kate Brown announced Tuesday that, using her executive clemency powers, she is commuting the sentences of all of the state’s 17 inmates awaiting execution, saying their death sentences will be changed to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
The controversial move has angered both the public and fellow legislators, but Brown has stated, “I have long believed that justice is not advanced by taking a life, and the state should not be in the business of executing people — even if a terrible crime placed them in prison”.
Rep. Vikki Breese-Iverson, leader of the minority Republicans in the Oregon House of Representatives, accused Brown of “a lack of responsible judgment….Gov. Brown has once again taken executive action with zero input from Oregonians and the Legislature,” Breese-Iverson said in a statement. “Her decisions do not consider the impact the victims and families will suffer in the months and years to come. Democrats have consistently chosen criminals over victims.”
One commenter wrote: “She has just told the juries and judges that handed down the death sentences that their legal decisions don’t matter, and she has insulted the memories of the victims, and their families. This is NOT justice.”
In her announcement, Brown said victims experience “pain and uncertainty” as they wait for decades while individuals sit on death row. “My hope is that this commutation will bring us a significant step closer to finality in these cases,” she said. When she was elected governor in 2015, she announced she would continue the death penalty moratorium imposed by her predecessor, former Gov. John Kitzhaber. Oregon has not executed a prisoner since 1997.
During the coronavirus pandemic, Brown granted clemency to nearly 1,000 people convicted of crimes. Two district attorneys, along with family members of crime victims, sued the governor and other state officials to stop the clemency actions. But the Oregon Court of Appeals ruled in August that she acted within her authority.
The prosecutors, in particular, objected to Brown’s decision to allow 73 people convicted of murder, assault, rape and manslaughter while they were younger than 18 to apply for early release. Brown noted that previously she granted commutations “to individuals who have demonstrated extraordinary growth and rehabilitation” but said that assessment didn’t apply in her latest decision.
“This commutation is not based on any rehabilitative efforts by the individuals on death row,” Brown said. “Instead, it reflects the recognition that the death penalty is immoral. It is an irreversible punishment that does not allow for correction.”
The Oregon Department of Corrections announced in May 2020 it was phasing out its death row and reassigning those inmates to other special housing units or general population units at the state penitentiary in Salem and other state prisons.
Oregon has a history of flip-flopping on the issue of capital punishment. Its voters reinstated the death penalty by popular vote in 1978, 14 years after they abolished it. The Oregon Supreme Court declared it unconstitutional in 1981 and Oregon voters reinstated it in 1984, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.
Officials in the governor’s office and the corrections department did not immediately respond to an attempt to reconcile the lists.
