Some 17 inmates from the state of Oregon, United States, dodged death row after Governor Kate Brown commuted their death sentence to life without parole.
“I have long believed that justice is not promoted by taking a life, and the State should not get involved in the business of executing people, even if a terrible crime sent them to prison,” Brown said in a statement calling the death penalty as dysfunctional and immoral.
Governor Brown’s decision comes less than a month before the end of her term, since Tina Kotek, also a Democrat, will soon take office.
Brown further said that while convicts wait on death row, victims and family members experience “pain and uncertainty” for decades.
