Oregon Gov. Kate Brown Commutes All Death Sentences in State to Life Without Parole

Mar. 15, 2025

Governor of Oregon Kate Brown.Photo: Carmen Mandato/Getty Images

Gov. Kate Brown is putting an end to the death penalty in the state of Oregon.

The Democratic governor’s order, which takes effect on Wednesday, will commute the sentences of 17 inmates on Oregon’s death row to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole, according to the governor’s office.

“Since taking office in 2015, I have continued Oregon’s moratorium on executions because the death penalty is both dysfunctional and immoral,” Brown added. “Today I am commuting Oregon’s death row so that we will no longer have anyone serving a sentence of death and facing execution in this state. This is a value that many Oregonians share.”

The statehas not executed a prisonersince 1997.

Jeff Chiu/AP/Shutterstock

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“It is an irreversible punishment that does not allow for correction; is wasteful of taxpayer dollars; does not make communities safer; and cannot be and never has been administered fairly and equitably,” she said.

“I also recognize the pain and uncertainty victims experience as they wait for decades while individuals sit on death row—especially in states with moratoriums on executions—without resolution,” she added. “My hope is that this commutation will bring us a significant step closer to finality in these cases.”

The execution room at Oregon State Penitentiary in 2011.Rick Bowmer/AP/Shutterstock

Brown is among a handful of governors across the nation who have taken similar stances on the death penalty.

In 2019, California Gov. Gavin Newsom announced that the state’s death rowwould be dismantledwithin two years and leaders in Pennsylvania, Colorado and Washington have alsohalted executions.

source: people.com