News

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.

Press Release - Oregonians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty (OADP) has announced plans for their 2015 annual meeting, dinner and program. It will be held on Friday June 12th, at the Keizer Civic Center.

National death penalty scholar Charles Ogletree gives his views on Oregon's death penalty relative to the resignation of Governor John Kitzhaber.

Read the Huffingpost article here: Gov. Kitzhaber: Your Job Is Not Yet Done.



On behalf of Oregonians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty, let me respond to Oregonian reporter Bryan Denson's April 30 article criticizing OADP's participation in the recent Oregonian poll about the death penalty. First, thank you to The Oregonian for providing a forum for discussing the death penalty in Oregon. Gov. John Kitzhaber called for a vigorous statewide debate on this issue, and that is what OADP is trying to promote. We welcome the participation of all Oregonians, whatever their views, and we appreciate The Oregonian's help. We will, of course, continue to make our views known through all available avenues, including The Oregonian’s poll. We are not trying to silence anyone else from making their views known and fully expect death penalty proponents will do so as well. The fact is, the death penalty is a wasteful and ineffective response to violent crime. We believe that when Oregonians understand this, they will choose to replace it with life in prison without possibility of parole as the most serious sanction for murder. Six other states have done so in the last few years (New York, New Jersey, New Mexico, Illinois, Connecticut and Maryland), bringing the total of states without the death penalty to 18.