Street roots
10
June 6, 2014
Spare the What?! The argument for more jail beds fall flat
BY SHANNON WIGHT
has been studied and analyzed extensively in
Oregon and across the nation. We know
illamette Week’s May 7 piece on
what works. We know what doesn’t work. Of
juvenile justice in Oregon, “Spare
course, there is always more to learn and
the Jail, Spoil the Child,” demanded room to improve.
a reaction. As the title suggests, the article A 2012 report by the National Academy
posited that Multnomah County in
of Sciences, Reforming Juvenile Justice: A
particular, and Oregon in general, need to
Developmental Approach, opens with the
use more jail beds to
line, “The past decade has seen an
address juvenile crime.
explosion of knowledge about adolescent
Nothing could be further development and the neurological
from the truth.
underpinnings of adolescent behavior.”
In fact, “Spare the
Relying on numerous studies, the report
jail” is a one-sided
argues that accountability for juveniles is
tribute to the dying
most effective when youths are kept in their
gasps of dinosaurs
communities, are provided with
whose time is coming to
opportunities to accept responsibility for
an end. Across the
their poor choices and the harm they may
country, states are recognizing the
have caused, and can be accountable to
importance of using research and outcomes : victims and pay restitution. The report
to drive our juvenile justice policies,
recommends that juvenile justice systems
Prosecutors in Oregon see this trend as
“use confinement sparingly.”
undermining their powerful role within our
Twenty years ago, Oregon, like most of
justice system and are trying to breathe life
the rest of the country, embarked on a now-
into a tough-on-crime belief system that is
failed experiment of mass incarceration for
becoming increasingly extinct.
both adults and youths. A recent editorial in
Let’s be clear: youth who commit crimes
the New York Times concluded, “The
should be held accountable. We need to
American experiment in mass incarceration
hold them accountable proportionate to
has bee’h a moral, legal, social, and
their crime and then ensure that our
economic disaster. It cannot end soon
system reduces the chances that they will
enough.”
commit other crimes in the future. Some
And it’s not just the liberal New York
youth need to go to jail, but most need
Times palling for changes to our justice
something else. While the views expressed
system. Republicans across the country
in “Spare the Jail” equate incarceration to
have helped lead efforts to reign in costs on
accountability, research shows that jail often our failed experiment with over
has a negative impact on youth and can
incarceration. One group involved in these
make them more likely to commit crimes in
efforts, Right on Crime, includes
the future. There are many reasons for this,
conservative stalwarts like Newt Gingrich
but consider that half of youth who are
and Pat Nolan.
arrested for a crime are never arrested
Contrary to the claim that Oregon’s
again. Now, take that young person and
juvenile justice system is “one of the least
throw him in jail and consider the impact.
transparent parts of the state’s justice
G o o d k id s w h o m a k e h a d c h o ic e s , a n d .e n d ...... .s ystem/«’, it ¡»4»,
up m jail become worse kids.
prosecutors that have virtually no oversight.
The juvenile justice system, more than
Elected district attorneys are not
any other aspect of our public safety system,
C O N T R IB U T IN G C O L U M N IS T "
H
Shannon Wight is the
deputy director at
Partnership fo r Safety
a n d Justice. P SJ is a
statewide, nonprofit
advocacy
organization
dedicated to m aking
Oregon’s approach to
crime an d public
safety more effective
an d just.
accountable for how they use state ,
resources or what outcomes their policies
and practices deliver. They have been
beating the same “we want to send more
people to prison” drum for 20 years ■7 but '
no one is asking them, “Do prisons and jails
make people less likely to commit future
crimes; more likely to pay restitution to
victims or more likely to keep our
communities safe?”
Juvenile justice research reveals the
answer is no. Yes, Some youth need to be
incarcerated, but arguing that we need more
incarceration in Oregon is like asking for
teachers to be allowed to spank students.
It’s not effective and people educated in the
research on juvenile justice know it.
As Oregonians, like the rest of the
country, if we get smarter about our
approaches to criminal and juvenile justice
policy, prosecutors will have less power over
the system and be forced to take their
rightful place as one party in the adversarial
process. It’s not surprising that they
wouldn’t go down without a fight
The tide is turning and prosecutors will
keep swimming upstream until the current
is too strong for them. There’s nothing we
can do about that except understand it for
what it is.
What we can also do is declare what is
true: It’s long overdue for district,attorneys
not to just call for accountability of others —
whether it’s youth who commit crimes or
the Systems that hold them accountable —
but to be subject to some oversight
themselves. Our legislature or secretary of
state should begin to evaluate their offices’
spending practices and outcomes rather
than listen to their misleading closing
arguments in the casejor sending more
youth to jail.
f i n cfabrevjated' version o f th is,c o lu m n ,,.,
appeared i n the W illa m ette W eek as a letter
to the editor on May 21.
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