News

Wednesday, May 2, 2012

In April, Connecticut became the fifth state in five years to abolish the death penalty. In Oregon this past December, Gov. John Kitzhaber placed a moratorium on all executions, citing his refusal “to be a part of this compromised and inequitable system any longer.”

That public response to Kitzhaber’s action has been relatively mute perhaps indicates that the time has come for Oregon to join Connecticut and 16 other states in abolishing capital punishment.

April 24, 2012
Los Angeles Times

California is set for a major debate on the death penalty following qualification Monday of a November ballot measure that would replace capital punishment with a life term without possibility of parole.

Read More http://articles.latimes.com/2012/apr/24/local/la-me-death-penalty-califo...

Twenty five years ago this week in a case entitled McClesky v. Kemp, the United States Supreme Court was faced with disturbing proof that race influences who is sentenced to death in the United States. In Georgia, where the case originated, black defendants charged with killing white victims were 4.3 times as likely to receive a death sentence as white defendants charged with killing black victims.

On April 12, 2012, the Connecticut legislature replaced its death penalty with life in prison with no possibility of release. When Governor Daniel Malloy signs the bill into law, Connecticut will be the 17th state and the fifth in recent years to replace the death penalty with an alternative punishment that ensures both the safety of its citizens, but also guarantees that no innocent person will be executed.

The Oregon Supreme Court, for the third time in two decades, has overturned a death sentence against Robert Paul Langley Jr. for a murder committed in 1987. The decision announced Thursday sent the case back to Marion County Circuit Court for further proceedings. District Attorney Walt Beglau has not announced whether he will seek the death penalty for Langley. Because four of the sitting justices have worked for the Oregon Department of Justice, which represents the state in death-penalty cases, they did not take part in Thursday’s decision. The three remaining justices were joined by a retired justice and a Court of Appeals judge to decide the case.