Oregon Gov. Kate Brown will commute the death sentences of the 17 people on the state's death row to life sentences without parole, her office announced Tuesday afternoon.
No one has been executed in the state since 1997. The governor's order goes into effect Wednesday.
After taking office in 2015, Brown continued then Gov. John Kitzhaber’s 2011 moratorium on executions. In 2019, Brown signed a law that restricts the use of the death penalty.
The state has had the death penalty in place since 1984 – capital punishment was banned in 1962 – but it didn’t use it until Douglas Wright was executed by lethal injection in 1996. Harry Moore died by lethal injection in May 1997. Both of those men waived their appeals.
“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,” Brown said in a statement.
“Instead, it reflects the recognition that the death penalty is immoral. It is an irreversible punishment that does not allow for correction; is wasteful of taxpayer dollars; does not make communities safer; and cannot be and never has been administered fairly and equitably.”
According to the governor’s office, Brown is believed to be the seventh governor in 50 years who commuted the sentences of everyone in their state who had a death sentence.