JCC [Hippies] Anti-death penalty thread

Somewhere Rick Perry weeps.

Gov. John Kitzhaber announced today he will not allow the execution of Gary Haugen -- or any death row inmate -- to take place while he is in office.

The death penalty is morally wrong and unjustly administered, Kitzhaber said.

"In my mind it is a perversion of justice," he said at an emotional news conference in Salem.

The governor cited his constitutional authority to grant a temporary reprieve for Haugen, in effect canceling the planned Dec. 6 lethal injection of the twice-convicted murderer. Haugen waived his legal appeals and has been preparing for the execution, which would have been Oregon's first in 14 years.

The change of heart comes as a surprise for a governor who twice before -- in his first term as governor -- allowed executions to go forward. Despite his personal opposition to the death penalty, Kitzhaber said he was upholding the will of the people in allowing the 1996 execution of Douglas Franklin Wright and the 1997 execution of Harry Charles Moore.

"I have regretted those choices ever since," he said in a prepared statement. "Both because of my own deep personal convictions about capital punishment and also because in practice, Oregon has an expensive and unworkable system that fails to meet basic standards of justice."

...

Kitzhaber said he supports adopting a sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole instead of capital punishment and will ask the state Legislature to come up with possible reforms for the 2013 session.

The move comes a day after the Oregon Supreme Court cleared the way for Haugen's execution. Kitzhaber declined to commute Haugen's sentence, saying he believes the state must decide for itself on the need for a statewide debate over capital punishment.

"I am convinced we can find a better solution that keeps society safe, supports the victims of crime and their families and reflects Oregon values," he wrote. "I refuse to be a part of this compromised and inequitable system any longer; and I will not allow further executions while I am Governor."

Good riddance.

As a Californian, I'm hoping that Jerry Brown will pull something similar to what George Ryan did and commute all death row inmates' sentences.

thread title changed on user request

 

Gooooood.

 

Good for him.

 

Good for Oregon.

Scummy

 

This is fantastic news. Now let's hope we can manage to get a more permanent solution so we don't have to worry right after this guy is out of office.

 

Boooooo.

 

Now I can sleep easy (and eat my dinner soon with calm) tonight in knowing that Oregon is on a much more moral & scared path.


Laker games cancelled (so far) due to the current NBA lockout: 22

 

So Oregon's going from basically no state-sponsored executions a year to no state sponsored executions? Man, that's got to be like giving up cigars after having smoked precisely one ever.

 

Excellent. Most excellent.

 

Don't you live in Michigan or something?

Although Oregon has had relatively few executions, there are still 37 people on death row there and full, de jure abolition-- which is what the governor is pushing for-- is still much better. Also, this may be part of or help start a trend.

 

Make the inmates waiting time on death row shorter by quickening the appeals process. We waste too much money on people who we don't need to. Life in prison for non murder crimes is fine but if it's murder I don't understand why the need to keep these people around.

I can understand to an extent why people don't like the death penalty but I thinks it's something that needs to happen more often and faster.

 

Death penalty facts.

 

Yeah, but just because my state doesn't have the death penalty doesn't mean I agree with it.

Not to mention some years back, there was a case in my area about a guy who killed a woman and her baby, and got the death penalty for it because he committed the crime on federal property (a national park).

Loopholes, you gotta love them.

I'm sorry, but some crimes deserve the death penalty.

 

Because we don't get to decide who get's "kept around" and who doesn't.

 

No but the courts do.

 

No.

 

Good, there should be no government death panels.

Although, while Oregon won't put you to death for murder right now, I wonder if they'll still offer to kill you if you have cancer rather than treat you.

 

Not to the people who are on death row. They've decided already how little value human life has.

 

I'm waiting for executions to be shown on tv and when it happens it should be on all channels like when the president gives a speech. Like back in the day when people were hung in the town square.

 

You can only show people hung in the town square after 10 PM and on cable, I think

 

Who said anything about revenge? It's punishment for taking the life of another. You kill. You die. It should be that simple. I get very frustrated when criminals get more rights than their victims.