17 December 2018  After a record number of UN member states today supported at the final vote a key UN General Assembly resolution calling for a moratorium on executions with a view to abolishing the death penalty, Amnesty International’s Death Penalty Expert Chiara Sangiorgio said:  “The fact that more countries than ever before have voted to end executions shows that global abolition of the death penalty is becoming an inevitable reality. A death penalty-free world is closer than ever.

Dec. 13, 2018 Oregon lawmakers and death penalty opponents are considering a roundabout approach at gutting the state’s capital punishment law — without sending it to voters.

Since 1984, the death penalty has been enshrined in the Oregon Constitution, meaning it can only be removed by a vote of the people. But under proposals being discussed by Rep. Mitch Greenlick, D-Portland, Sen. Floyd Prozanski, D-Eugene, and others, the policy could be largely dismantled next year via a vote of the Legislature.

Tuesday, November 6, 2018 Oregon’s back and forth

Capital punishment is now legal in Oregon. It has come and gone.

The first execution under the territorial government was in 1851. Capital punishment was made explicitly legal by statute in 1864, and executions have been carried out exclusively at the Oregon State Penitentiary in Salem since 1904.