News

Within the past two weeks two more men have left a death row prison, found innocent after serving years for crimes that did not commit. These two exonerations mark #134 and #135 since 1973, and five already in the first seven months of 2009. “The five exonerations this year demonstrate that innocent people still face a significant danger of execution in this country”, said Richard Dieter, Executive Director of the Death Penalty Information Center.

An editorial The Daily Astorian, contrasts the state’s use of funds for the death penalty to the state's reduction in funding for education.  “The glaring contrast to our unquestioning spending on the death penalty - which Judge Lipscomb called ‘this largely futile attempt’ - is our disinvestment in education,” the paper noted.  “Investment in education is about the future, and it is about hope. Investment in prisons and especially in the death penalty is about a final reckoning, an admission of gross failure.