Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Street roots. (Portland, OR) 1998-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 19, 2014)
t 13 Street roots Dec. 19, 2014 Pulling the arc toward justice BY PARTNERSHIP FOR SAFETY A N D JUSTICE STAFF MEMBERS C O N T R IB U T IN G * C O L U M N IS T S 2 based programs that help people succeed, like victim services, re-entry services, addiction treatment and mental health programs. r. Martin Luther King, Jr. said, “The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.” President PSJ knows that policies are only effective Obama added, “But it does not do so on its if they’re implemented well. In the 2014 own. It does so because there are hands session, of we engaged legislators on how their ordinary people doing extraordinary things communities are investing in justice every single day and they reinvestment funding. We worked with allies pull that arc in the to protect justice reinvestment from being direction of justice.” watered down through proposed legislative Recent grand juries’ changes. Thanks to the smart decision- decisions.not to indict making and dedication of legislators, justice police officers involved reinvestment is still intact Oregon is on in killing unarmed track to spend less on prison beds and people has led many invest more in community health and safety. people to question whether the arc is bending toward justice. Partnership for Safely and Access to Emergency Housing Justice believes that these killings are the PSJ was honored to support the Housing tragic expression of a brutal system that has Alliance’s efforts during the 2014 session to led to 2.3 million Americans currently being increase funding to prevent homelessness. held behind bars, the criminalization of Everyone deserves a safe place to call home addiction and mental illness, and the — obtaining one can be difficult for domestic prosecution of children as if they were fully violence survivors. Often,'abusive partners developed adults. This system and its control money and resources, so survivors extreme costliness have also diverted may not have access to bank accounts or ID. resources from services for crime victims, Without these resources, it is extremely addiction treatment, mental health Care, difficult to rent a new apartment or even a education and other programs that help motel room for the night. For survivors people emerge from poverty and participate living at poverty levels, the challenges are successfully in society. even larger. PSJ also believes that this system, can Legislatorsinvested an additional $2 change. *As painful as it is to experience million to help prevent or end continued injustice, we are also encouraged homelessness. Now, 1,300 additional by movement towards increased justice. As Oregonians, many of whom are domestic PSJ reaffirms our commitment to creating violence survivors, have a safe place to stay! justice, safely and health throughout our communities in 2015, we wanted to Justice for Oregon’s Youth acknowledge some of the gains made this In the 2014session, PSJ pro m o ted 'sm art year, as we dig in our heels so we can pull -pohty-totreat^tottfe'eenvieted^Measmre moretowards justicenext-year.. 11 offenses, as youth, instead of adults^ We helped pass HB 4037, which enables youth Justice Reinvestment convicted as adults to go directly to an In 2013, PSJ helped pass HB 3194, Oregon Youth Authority facility for intake. transformative reform legislation that In the past, youth were transported - flatlines. prison growth for five years and together with adult offenders - to an adult saves more than $300 million. HB 3194 prison, before being, transferred to OYA. created the Justice Reinvestment Grant Some youth spent a week or more in the . Program, which distributes savings from adult prison for processing, usually in an ayerted prison growth into community? isolation cell for their own protection. HB a Partnership fo r Safety a n d Justice is a statewide, nonprofit advocacy organization dedicated to m aking Oregon’s approachto crime a nd public safety more effective a n d just. . ank vou to all of our readers who made 2014 a smendous year for our vendors! Thanks_to you, vendors are looking forward to 2015. 4037 helps ensure that youth can go directly to OYA and begin the rehabilitation process immediately. Oregon Measure 91 Oregon voters approved Measure 91 by 56 percent. Measure 91 establishes a* controlled system of legal marijuana regulation and taxation for adults 21 and over. Oregon joins Washington and - Colorado, and now Alaska and Washington, D.C., as places where voters have rejected laws that criminalize people who use marijuana.- -. • PSJ urged a yes vote on Measure 91. We believe that marijuana should be addressed as a health issue, not a crime. For decades, tough-on-crime drug sentencing policies tied up law enforcement dollars, restricted . employment opportunities and access to housing for people convicted of marijuana offenses, and often resulted in the unfair treatment of young people and people of Color. Too many public resources were diverted that should have been used to help crime victims and address unmet comihunity needs across Oregon. California Proposition 47 It’s worth acknowledging California’s pull toward justice in the November election. Passing by 58.5 percent,. Proposition 47 retroactively reclassifies many low-level propertyand drug offenses from felonies to misdemeanors. As many as 10,000 people convicted of these offenses may now be eligible to petition for early release. There - may be 40,000 fewer felony convictions in California each year. Like O re g o n ’s J u s tic e r e in v e s t m e n t, savings are invested back into communities. California is estimated to save $150 million, which will be used to support victim, g services, mental health and addiction treatment, students’ success, and programs providing alternatives to incarceration. | These are just some of the extraordinary changes that ordinary people created this year. We know we still have a long way to go. Together, let’s seeTiow far we can pull the arc toward justice in 2015.
