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| -Great Cultural Revolution |
| Oregon governor commutes all 17 of state's death sentences |
| 2022-12-15 |
| [BBC] Oregon Democratic Governor Kate Brown will commute the sentences of all the state's 17 death row prisoners to life in prison without chance of parole. With less than a month left in office, she said she was using her executive power because she believed capital punishment was wrong. Oregon is one of 27 states that allows the death penalty, but it has not executed a prisoner since 1997. Republicans in the western US state condemned Ms Brown's order. It will take effect on Wednesday. In a statement, she said she was not acting because these prisoners had been rehabilitated, but because the death penalty is "immoral". "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. Ms Brown has used her clemency powers more than any other previous Oregon governor, reports Oregon Public Broadcasting. According to her office, she is the seventh US governor in the past 50 years to commute all death sentences in a state. Oregon State Senate Leader Tim Knopp, a Republican, assailed her policy on Tuesday. "Did the people of Oregon vote to end the death penalty?" he said. "I don't recall that happening." He added: "Even in the final days of her term, Brown continues to disrespect victims of the most violent crimes." Capital punishment is written into Oregon's constitution, meaning another governor can choose to resume the practice in the future. The Democrat replacing Ms Brown, Tina Kotek, has said she opposes the death penalty because of her religious beliefs. Seventeen people have been executed in the US in 2022, according to the Death Penalty Information Center. An opinion poll from earlier this year found Ms Brown to have the lowest approval rating of any US governor. Related: Kate Brown: 2022-10-21 Tina Kotek's Progressive Past Comes Back To Haunt Her in Final Oregon Gubernatorial Debate Kate Brown: 2022-07-11 4Chan Users Claim to Have Cracked Backup of Hunter Biden's iPhone and Are Leaking Info Kate Brown: 2022-04-30 DOJ sues Alabama over law making transgender treatments for children a felony |
| Posted by:Skidmark |
| #18 To be honest, if you don't want to have a state mandated death penalty for vile scum who are dangers to society, you will instead wind up with a societal based one that is utterly without mercy. |
| Posted by: Silentbrick 2022-12-15 23:34 |
| #17 I'm a San Diego born and raised, but I'm an honorary Texan in that : "Some people need killing" |
| Posted by: Frank G 2022-12-15 19:48 |
| #16 The same people who a year and a half ago wished harm or death on those not getting the jab, and encourage the hard drug use, so I don't think the preservation of justice or saving life for the sake of saving life is the real motivation here. If it were a few with real questions about evidence but its a full sweep the table damn the law and precedence without even checking voter preference. I'll go 100% first half of #2. |
| Posted by: swksvolFF 2022-12-15 18:28 |
| #15 One thing I've learned from years of observation is that the system is not perfect. |
| Posted by: Abu Uluque 2022-12-15 12:46 |
| #14 #2, that took guts, M. I, like many others, might have been more comfortable if they had done it to Charlie Manson but I too believe the system is error prone and likely to execute innocent people. |
| Posted by: Abu Uluque 2022-12-15 12:36 |
| #13 Not sure if untenable is the right word there. Heinlein's Luna comes across as heavily influenced by Scots-Irish and then therefore colonial Appalachian culture and the desire of an oppressed people fighting for independence has much more historical tenure than bitch online until someone finds me an answer culture. |
| Posted by: swksvolFF 2022-12-15 12:24 |
| #12 So, on the one side, you have VDH whining about how society is collapsing, but offering no solutions. On the other side, you have a particular school of sci-fi writers snarling about how society is collapsing and offering up an avalanche of untenable solutions. Seems the answers, whatever they might be, are to be found elswhere. |
| Posted by: M. Murcek 2022-12-15 11:10 |
| #11 To me, Heinlein and Asimov came across as reactions to the decay of classical philosophy and morality among movers and decision makers. If we are feeling Starship Troopers or Foundation, its because those given ward of health care lie about 200 years of medical advancement while the workers learn deathbed dances, and it is tolerated, celebrated, as moral apex. |
| Posted by: swksvolFF 2022-12-15 10:54 |
| #9 more of a FAFO type |
| Posted by: Mercutio 2022-12-15 10:04 |
| #8 Granted - he's not real long on the whole "forgiveness" thing... |
| Posted by: Mercutio 2022-12-15 10:04 |
| #7 # 5, Heinlein is a great read and he touches a lot of thought-provoking topics. Do I want to live in a society or world where he's the top philosopher? No. |
| Posted by: M. Murcek 2022-12-15 09:17 |
| #6 She also added around $1.4 Million per year to the state's spending. Rough annual cost to keep a prisoner on death row - $80K |
| Posted by: Mullah Richard 2022-12-15 09:04 |
| #5 Re #2: So if no state-sponsored death penalty, how do you feel about Heinlein's "Balancing" approach? |
| Posted by: Mercutio 2022-12-15 09:03 |
| #4 /\ Lawless urban moons orbiting a lawless giant planet aka Washington D.C. |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2022-12-15 07:56 |
| #3 That is why in certain inner cities, no one cooperates with the 'authorities'. One side does have a death penalty. It gets resolved by vendetta. |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2022-12-15 07:53 |
| #2 The same types who always argue "there is no such thing as a slippery slope" now turn their attention from abolishing the death penalty to abolishing life with no parole sentences as being "inhumane." Meanwhile, future killers are being nurtured in their ways early in their trajectories with "no cash bail" and revolving door arraignments. Full disclosure: I am anti death penalty. In principle, I certainly recognize people who deserve it. In practice, the system we have is so busted it can't possibly administer it in a just manner. I say that as a crime reporter who covered murder cases and watched senile judges, incompetent defense attorneys, lying prosecutors, cops and "experts," and brain dead jurors first hand. |
| Posted by: M. Murcek 2022-12-15 07:12 |
| #1 The state abandons justice. Do no seek justice here. |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2022-12-15 07:03 |