SALEM, OR – Today, House Republican Leader Vikki Breese-Iverson (R-Prineville) issued the following statement after Governor Kate Brown’s decision to commutate all death row sentences to life imprisonment during her final days in office. Governor Brown’s term ends on January 9, 2023, just 27 days away. Yet as has been her objective throughout her governorship, Governor Brown continues to, with the stroke of a pen, exercise a lack of responsible judgment.
“Governor Brown has once again taken executive action with zero input from Oregonians and the legislature. Oregon has not executed an individual since 1997 and has only executed two criminals since voters adopted the death penalty in 1984,” said Leader Breese-Iverson (R-Prineville). “Her decisions do not consider the impact the victims and families will suffer in the months and years to come. Democrats have consistently chosen criminals over victims.”
Oregonians have been clear for decades that the death penalty is a constitutional punishment for our state’s most violent offenders. Time and again the people of Oregon have supported this punishment as a deterrence and protection from those who have no regard for the lives of others.