the death penalty was reinstated in oregon in 1984.
the death penalty was reinstated in oregon in 1984.
when was the death penalty reinstated in oregon?
1984
other states which abolished the death penalty for murder before "gregg v. georgia" include: minnesota in 1911, vermont in 1964, iowa and west virginia in 1965 and north dakota in 1973. hawaii abolished the death penalty in 1948 and alaska in 1957, both before their statehood. puerto rico repealed it in 1929 and the district of columbia in 1981. arizona and oregon abolished the death penalty by popular vote in 1916 and 1964 respectively, but both reinstated it, again by popular vote, some years later; arizona reinstated the death penalty in 1918 and oregon in 1978. in oregon, the measure reinstating the death penalty was overturned by the oregon supreme court in 1981, but oregon voters again reinstated the death penalty in 1984. puerto rico and michigan are the only two u.s. jurisdictions to have explicitly prohibited capital punishment in their constitutions: in 1952 and 1964, respectively.
capital punishment in the united states
the movement in 1950s and 1960s shifted focus from legislation to the courts. although public opinion remained in favor of execution (aside from during the mid-1960s when pro and anti opinions were roughly equal), judges and jurors executed fewer people than they did in the 1930s. the decline in executions gave strength to various new anti-capital punishment organizations. among these groups were: a california-based citizens against legalized murder, the ohio committee to abolish capital punishment, the new jersey council to abolish capital punishment, california's people against capital punishment, the new york committee to abolish capital punishment, the oregon council to abolish the death penalty, and the national committee to abolish the federal death penalty. in addition to growing organizations, the movement also profited from growing european abolishment of the death penalty and from the controversial executions of barbara graham and caryl chessman. success mounted in the late 1950s as alaska, hawaii, and delaware abolished capital punishment. oregon and iowa followed their leads in the 1960s. many other states added laws that restricted the use of the death penalty except in cases of extreme serious offenses. abolitionists began to strongly challenge the constitutionality of the death penalty in the 1960s. lawyers from the american civil liberties union and from the naacp legal defense and educational fund launched a major campaign challenging the death penalty's constitutionality and insisted a moratorium for all executions while it was in process. the united states executed zero people from 1968 to 1976. the anti-death penalty movement's biggest victory of this time period was the supreme court case, "furman v. georgia", of 1972. the supreme court found the current state of the death penalty unconstitutional due to its "arbitrary and discriminatory manner" of application. the court, however, left states with the option to revamp their laws and make them more constitutional. twenty eight states did just that and the court eventually allowed the death penalty again through a series of cases in 1976, collectively known as "gregg v. georgia".
capital punishment debate in the united states