OREGON– Oregon is narrowing the types of crimes that would warrant the death penalty.
Governor Kate Brown signed Senate Bill 1013 into law on Thursday.
In Oregon, capital punishment applies to cases of “aggravated murder.”
Previously, a number of crimes were eligible for the death penalty. They included the killing of on-duty police officers, murder for hire, or killing someone during a rape or robbery.
The new law restricts capital punishment to killings motivated by terrorism that kill two or more people, killing children age 14 or younger, killings by a person incarcerated or by a person previously incarcerated for aggravated murder and murder in the first degree, and premeditated killings of police or corrections officers.
The Oregon Department of Corrections told NBC5 News that 31 people are currently on death row.
The state has not carried out an execution since 1997.
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