Street roots
Aug. 2, 2013
With victims searching for options, the state must respond
BY KERRY NAUGHTON
C O N T R IB U T IN G C O L U M N IS T
ummer is here and many of us have
been treated to the familiar serenade
that calls up so many childhood
memories: the lilting melody of the ice
cream truck. Imagine the
disappointment on little
kids’ faces if, after
running up to the ice
cream truck with dollar
bills in hand to purchase
a chocolaty treat, the .
only item for sale is a
scoop of ginger gelato.
Some kids will love it, but
others will walk away, dejected that they
couldn’t get an appropriate option to find
relief from the heat.
Measure 11, the state’s mandatory
sentencing law, has Oregon’s sentencing
structure stuck with one flavor, leaving
many crime victims without an option in the
justice system that suits their tastes and
needs.
Regular readers of our column will know
that Partnership for Safety and Justice, our
members, and our allies worked hard to
shape the Governor’s Commission on
Public Safety’s recommendations to the
Legislature and to pass HB 3194, the
omnibus public safety policy package that
contained many of the Commission’s
recommendations. We are pleased that the
passage of HB 3194 will flatline prison
growth in Oregon for the next five years and
will reinvest funding from averted prison
growth into other vital crime prevention
strategies, like victim services, addiction
treatment, and mental health support. This
puts Oregon on a smarter path to building
safe, healthy communities.
But one thing that HB 3194 failed to do
was change some Measure 11 sentences.
Unfortunately, the modest modifications to
some Measure 11 offenses were amended
out of the version of HB 3194 that passed.
S
SAFETY and
JUSTICE
Kerry Naughton is
the Crime Survivors
Program Director at
Partnership for Safety
and Justice. P S J is a
statewide, non-profit
advocacy
organization
dedicated to making
Oregon’s approach to
crime and public
safety more effective
and just.
Failing to make these smart changes means
that Oregon crime victims are left with a
“ginger gelato” option in-the justice system
when so many are searching for something
different.
Justice for victims is not one-size-fits-all.
This is one reason why less than half of
domestic and sexual violence survivors
report the crime to police or can access
victim services provided through the
criminal justice process. The abuser is often
the breadwinner or someone intimately
involved in the victim’s day-to-day life.
Victims often believe that their abuser
needs to be punished, but not for the
mandatory sentence, which may cause the
family to lose their home and the youngest
victims of all to lose their childhood. A
number of local, states and national victim
advocacy organizations oppose mandatory
minimums, especially for domestic and
sexual violence offenses, because they can
decrease reporting to the police, which
decreases victim and community safety.
Thankfully, many victims are able to go to
the “corner store” — their community
domestic and sexual violence services
program — to find safety options that better
meet their needs. Oregon’s network of
community-based domestic and sexual
violence programs meet victims’ safety and
support needs whether or not the crime is
ever reported or proceeds through the
justice system. Programs provide crime
victims with vital safety and support:
shelter; safety planning; counseling; medical
accompaniment; and information. Countless
Oregonians have accessed services and
successfully broken free from violence to
provide safe, healthy environments for
themselves and their children.
Inadequate funding for domestic and
sexual violence services means that not
every victim can access the safety they
deserve. Victims and their children who
aren’t able to access shelter may have to
live in their cars, camp in the woods, or
Canning jars &
equipment,
cookware, kitchen
tools & appliances
Organic cotton
sheets, towels,
& blankets
Naturai Kitchen
& Home
Division
M o n -S at 10-6 • Sun 11-5
Food dryers
Juicers
Books on meat-free
cooking, gardening
& sustainability
remain in dangerous situations at home. No
one should have to choose between
personal safety and a safe place to sleep
with their children. With over 20,000 unmet
requests for shelter from violence in 2011,
too many Oregonians have been forced to
make this choice. This
is especially tragic
since domestic
violence services
Iwsllce lo r victim s Is not one-
reduce repeat assaults s lie d ltM tlh This is one
by up to 70 percent in
reason why less than h a ll of
the next year — a
domestic asti seinal violence
remarkable return on
survivors report the crim e to
investment, not only
for adult survivors but
police or can access v ic tim
for the safety and
services provided through
health of their
the crim in a l ¡«slice process,
children.
Measure 11 was«
intended to be tough,
and it is. But it is
tough at the expense of being smart, and at
the expense of listening to crime victims
who have different needs for their safety,
justice, health and well-being.
This legislative session, Oregon
legislators listened hard to the needs and
considerations of a number of crime victims
- some- wanted Measure 11 to stay in place
and opposed even the modified version of
HB 3194 that passed. But many more
victims wanted changes to Measure 11 and
HB 3194 throughout the legislative process.
A groundswell of crime victims and victim
advocates called for changes to Measure 11
because they know how important it is to
rem o v e th e barrier from victims accessing
the justice system.
If you owned an ice cream truck that only
served' ginger gelato and the majority of
your customers decided to go elsewhere,
would you consider adding more options to
your menu? It’s time Oregon’s sentencing
structure does the same.