Hot news from Salem, Oregon: Governor John Kitzhaber has just suspended all executions in the State of Oregon, saying he would halt a pending execution and allow no more executions during his stay in office. Kitzhaber noted:
“They [previous executions] were the most agonizing and difficult decisions I have made as governor and I have revisited and questioned them over and over again during the past 14 years,” Gov. Kitzhaber said. “I do not believe that those executions made us safer; and certainly they did not make us nobler as a society. And I simply cannot participate once again in something I believe to be morally wrong.”
Noting the length of time many inmates spend on death row, often more than 20 years, he said Oregon had an “unworkable system that fails to meet basic standards of justice.”
Currently, Oregon only executes prisoners who waive their appeals, like the recent Haugen case.
That is something for which most of us can be thankful.
Posted by: Bill Turnier | November 23, 2011 at 04:52 PM