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About Street roots. (Portland, OR) 1998-current | View Entire Issue (April 1, 2016)
Page 4 News Street Roots • April 1 -7, 2016 Branded by Measure 11 Oregon is one of 15 states where prosecutors alone can decide whether to try a youth as an adult — and across Oregon it’s happening to black and Latino teens disproportionately BY EMILY GREEN STAFF WRITER hen administrators summoned 15-year-old Keeshawn Bullitt to the main office at Grant High School on Feb. 9 to ask him about the armed robbery he committed, he said he had no idea what they were talking about But there was no mistake, and Portland police arrested the soft-spoken sophomore at the Northeast Portland school the following morning. The charges stemmed from an incident at the high school five days earlier. Shortly after last period, Bullitt and three of his classmates, Rico Cabrera, 15, Saadiq Ducloux, 16, and Charlie Tzab, 16, surrounded a freshman and demanded he hand over his money. Their target Miroslav Lysak, thought it was a joke at first but became fearful when he saw Ducloux was pointing a pocketknife at him, according to court documents. They searched Lysak’s pockets and shoved him, then walked away, empty-handed and laughing. .. Lysak' told his- mother about the incident, and she phoned police. : . In response, the Multnomah County District Attorney’s Office charged Bullitt and each of his accomplices with six counts of felony armed robbery in the first and second PHOTO BY DIEGO DIAZ degrees. At age 15, Keeshawn Bullitt was charged as an adult under Measure 11 in connection with a crime at Grant High School. Bullitt — who hopes In Oregon, these charges are Measure 11 to be a veterinarian one day — took a plea deal, and if he stays out of trouble, he’ll be able to expunge his criminal record in three years. crimes, which carry lengthy mandatory minimum sentences. This also meant the The authors of the report acknowledged that analyzed data on 3,274 youths indicted four teens would be tried in adult court juvenile court. that, while pleas are necessary in Oregon’s on Measure 11 offenses. They determined Oregon voters passed Measure 11 in As Multnomah County takes steps to overburdened court system, because these that 6 out of 10 youths charged under November 1994. It dictates that juveniles move away from mass incarceration and youths are in adult court, “there is little Measure 11 are convicted of less serious age 15 and older be automatically tried in seeks to usher racial equality into its opportunity for the back-and-forth crimes after plea negotiations. adult court and face a mandatory minimum criminal justice system, Measure 11 serves discussions that might happen in a juvenile Critics say this begs the as an antiquated holdover from the tough-on- sentence if the prosecutor question: Should those courtroom - where the needs of the victim, charges them with one of crime era of the 1990s. Data show juveniles have been the community and the young person can be 21 Measure 11 crimes. Multnomah County prosecutors use "It gives district at« charged with Measure 11 identified and balanced.” These crimes range from Measure 11, without any oversight from assault and robbery to in the first place? Bullitt and his codefendants took the other arms of the judicial department, to tomeys all the power The study, Misguided prosecutor ’s offer and pleaded no-contest to rape and murder. send youths, primarily minorities, into the to drop the bomb and Measures, found using While in most states the then see what they can third-degree robbery, a non-Measure 11 adult court system. decision to move a juvenile Measure 11 against teens crime. If Bullitt and his classmates were found plead down to later on. into adult court requires a doesn’t lower the crime “Frankly one of the problems with this guilty of just one of those six counts, they Measure 11 shifted all rate. hearing, Oregon is one of Ballot Measure 11,” said Cabrera’s attorney, would spend at least five years and 10 power away from judges, Counties that convicted 15 states where a Tyl Bakker, “is that it ultimately takes the months in prison - the mandatory minimum prosecuting attorney can discretion, which has historically been with sentence for second-degree robbery. all power away from the more juveniles under make the decision to try a various other systems, to Measure 11 did not see the judges, away from them, and gives it to Parents and teachers agreed that what better public safety or a youth as an adult. the district attorney’s office. they did was inexcusable, but the district prosecutors." drop in juvenile crime “It gives district “They were charged with robbery - that attorney’s decision to charge the four boys - ANDY KÒi when compared with attorneys all the power to would be a 70-month, day-for-day, mandatory none of whom had a prior criminal history - DIRECTOR OF PARTNERSHIP FOR SAFETY AND JUSTICE counties that convicted drop the bomb and then as adults sent shockwaves through their minimum sentence,” he said. “It makes it a fewer youths under see what they can plead difficult choice for kids in that position to community. Measure 11. down to later on,” said decide, ‘I’d like to go to trial and litigate the The staff at Grant Magazine, the high It also determined that Andy Ko, director of thing.’ I think that’s probably the thinking school’s student-run periodical, soon began Partnership for Safety and Justice. “Measure prosecutors, not judges or juries, made the behind these young men agreeing to resolve working on an exposé to explain Oregon’s final decision in 92 percent of the cases in the case.” Measure 11 mandatory minimum sentencing 11 shifted all power away from judges, all which a youth was facing a Measure 11 power away from the various other systems, Bullitt and his family said they felt they to a perplexed student body. mandatory minimum sentence, with nine had no choice but to take the prosecutor’s Dozens of letters from the boys’ teachers, to prosecutors, and that’s what it was out of 10 youths taking the prosecutor’s intended to do. It was very calculated.” offer. A trial could have resulted in a long coaches, family members and friends’ offered plea deal rather than taking their Ko’s organization co-authored a report parehts came pouring in, all begging the chances with a jury. with Campaign for Youth Justice in 2011 district attorney to move the case into W See JUVENILE, page 5
