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Latino inmates at the Oregon State Penitentiary learn poetry The Oregon State Penitentiary, in Salem, is home to death row.
(Thomas Boyd/The Oregonian)
Harry C. Moore was executed by lethal injection on May 16, 1997, the second of just two Oregon prisoners put to death by the state since 1976. Both volunteered to be executed, waiving their appeals.
At a time when executions in the United States are in decline (10 percent in 2013, according to the Death Penalty Information Center) and death sentences are approaching historic lows, we wondered whether capital punishment has a future in Oregon.
Here's some background:
The state is one of 34, in addition to the U.S. government, with
laws making certain murders capital offenses. But Oregon stands 30th
among them in executions carried out.
As of Dec. 19, Oregon's death row held 34 prisoners (including one woman).
Oregon patterned its death penalty statute after Texas, which leads the nation in executing prisoners – more than 500 since the U.S. Supreme Court reaffirmed its acceptance of the death penalty in 1976.
Gov. John Kitzhaber, who served as governor during the state's last two executions, took a formal stand in 2011 against the death penalty. He put a moratorium on execution as death row inmate Gary Haugen volunteered to face the ultimate criminal punishment.
"In my mind," Kitzhaber said during his third term, "it is a perversion of justice."
It appears that Haugen's wish to be executed won't be granted during Kitzhaber's term as governor.
So we ask: Should Oregon abolish capital punishment or carry out death sentences imposed under state law?
You can find a copy of Oregon's death sentence statute here.
-- Bryan Denson