December 13, 2022 4:40 p.m. 

On Tuesday, Governor Kate Brown announced that she will use her executive clemency powers to commute the sentences of the 17 individuals on Oregon’s death row to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole.

Brown said, “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”.

Brown said, “Since taking office in 2015, I have continued Oregon’s moratorium on executions because the death penalty is both dysfunctional and immoral. Today I am commuting Oregon’s death row so that we will no longer have anyone serving a sentence of death and facing execution in this state. This is a value that many Oregonians share”.

Brown said, “Unlike previous commutations I’ve granted to individuals who have demonstrated extraordinary growth and rehabilitation, this commutation is not based on any rehabilitative efforts by the individuals on death row. Instead it reflects the recognition that the death penalty is immoral”.

Brown’s release called the death penalty an irreversible punishment, wasteful of taxpayer dollars, and said it “…cannot be and never has been administered fairly and equitably”.

The order is linked: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1dzTQ8axbJXWmAo-VmvKQsReRSrp4B4Un/view