Every year between 2011 and 2020, Oregon maintained one of the 20 lowest violent crime rates in the United States.
[1] However, some of the most notorious serial killers in U.S. history were known for killing or operating in Oregon, including perhaps the most famous, Ted Bundy, as well as the second most prolific in terms of confirmed murders, Gary Ridgway, among many others.
A statute was enacted in 1864 allowing for the death penalty in cases of first degree murder.
[3] Initially, all executions were performed by hanging; lethal gas was adopted as the method after 1931.
Governor Mark Hatfield commuted the sentences of three death row inmates two days later.