Death Penalty

September 19, 2015 SALEM — Eight days after taking office, Gov. Kate Brown said she would convene a small group of advisers to help her puzzle through one of Oregon's most contentious issues: the death penalty.

Gov. John Kitzhaber stopped executions in Oregon four years ago, citing concerns about injustice as a death row inmate sought to speed his execution. Brown, thrust into office after Kitzhaber quit last February, decided to keep his moratorium while she sought answers.

Now, seven months later, her office acknowledges she's just getting started.

In response to the life without parole sentence that a jury returned on Friday for James Holmes, who killed twelve people and injured many more in a Aurora, Colorado movie theater, the prosecutor stated: “I'm not disappointed with the system.

The June 8, 2015 issue of Time magazine explores the decline of capital punishment in the U.S. The author, David Von Drehle, offers five significant reasons for the drop in death sentences, executions, and public support for the death penalty in the United States: problems with the administration of the death penalty, the falling crime rate, the erosion of the justification for capital punishment, the financial cost of the death penalty, and actions of the legislatures, lower-court judges and governors that be read by the Supreme Court as signs of 'evolving standards of decency' in society," which the U.S. Supreme Court may eventually see as justification for striking down capital punishment. Von Drehle concludes, "The facts are irrefutable, and the logic is clear. Exhausted by so many years of trying to prop up this broken system, the court will one day throw in the towel."

To read the complete article: http://time.com/deathpenalty

The “conservative” Republican unicameral legislature in Nebraska got it right! On May 20, by a 32-15 margin, a death penalty repeal bill passed. This was the third vote in this session and the “yes” votes were consistently favorable in each round of voting. Following the final vote, Governor Pete Ricketts stated he would veto the legislation and began a strenuous effort to get senators to change their vote. To override a veto 30 votes were required.