Support the Commission on Public Safety

Posted: February 28, 2013

Contact your legislators, host an educational forum on the Public Safety recommendations, or focus a legislative town hall on the recommendations!

DEADLINE FOR ACTION: April, May, and June 2013

MESSAGE TO CONVEY to your legislators:

Support the work of the 2012 Commission on Public Safety and the PEW Charitable Trust. The goal is to reduce the cost of prison operations and invest the savings in community corrections.

Support Judicial discretion on 3 crimes, Robbery 2, Assault 2, and Sex Abuse 1 with a lower range of sentencing times. These are currently Measure 11 crimes. The other 19 crimes will remain in Measure 11.

Support a range of sentences on Measure 57 property and drug offenders allowing consideration of aggravating and mitigating circumstances. These offenders have increased the prison population, but they are often low or medium risk offenders who can be managed in the community.

Support Judicial discretion on sentence review on juveniles charged in the adult system. This option allows the court to hold a hearing after 50% or 75% of sentence is served and considers other options for placement or treatment programs.

Support the funding for drug courts to treat offenders with substance abuse disorders in order to keep them from remaining in the criminal justice system.

BACKGROUND:

The Governor originally appointed the Commission on Public Safety in the fall of 2011 under the leadership of Chief Justice Paul DeMuniz and Former Governor Ted Kulongoski. The Pew Trust was invited to provide expertise in the study of Oregon’s data and findings on the status of its sentencing and prison system. See PEW key findings.

The 2012 Commission on Public Safety met during the Interim and formulated recommendations for changes to community corrections programs, sentencing, and prison alternatives or time served. See PEW presentation for a PowerPoint on the recommendations. These documents can be used for background education for League members or for education for the public.

The Joint Committee for Public Safety was appointed in the 2013 Session to hear the bills that recommend changes in the Public Safety system. This Committee meets on Wednesday evenings from 5:30 to 7:00 p.m. at the Capitol. The first meetings were invited testimony, but this week they will begin to hear the bills, starting with HB 3194. Other bills recently filed are HB 3193, 3195, 3196 and 3197.

Please let the LWVOR Action Team know if you host a forum or town hall. The responses from your community will help us testify on these recommendations. For further questions, contact Karen Nibler at niblerk@comcast.net.

Category: Action Alerts