Street Roots • Aug. 26-Sept. 1,2016
MEASURE 11, from page 4
housed in the city’s Office of Equity and
Human Rights.
BMA program coordinator CJ Robbins
said, among the issues already prioritized by
the BMA initiative, reforming the mandatory-
minimum-sentencing law was something the
young men “were passionate about”
And they were not alone.
Portland police Capt. Kevin Modica and
Oregon Department of Justice Civil Rights
Director Erious Johnson Jr. were among the
speakers who also took the stage to voice
their opposition to the one-size-fits-all nature
of the sentencing law.
Despite triple-digit temperatures that
afternoon, the event, “Rise Above: Measure
11 Reform,” was well attended.
Portland Chief of Police Mike Marshman,
two criminal court judges and Rep. Lew
Frederick (D-Portland) sat among the guests
who’d settled into the
"The fear that these young dozens of white folding
people have about Measure chairs the young men had
11 Is real, and the tears
arranged on the grass.
Frederick said he plans
and the ialling ont on court
to
introduce legislation
floors, halfway losing their
aimed at Measure 11 in
minds because someone
the 2017 session and will
is telling them, you're 16
review the young men’s
years old, but you're go
final recommendations to
ing to spend 70 months In
see how they might be
prison, you're going to have incorporated.
“I want to see what we
a felony on your record, and
can do to legislation, either
when you get out, what op removing legislation or
tions do yon have?"
changing it, so that we
ELNHER
begin to focus on how we
P O R T L A N D P A T H ER
can actually get some
things done effectively,” he
said.
But, he said, “I want to make sure that the
people understand how difficult that may be
to get done.”
Previous attempts to reform Measure 11
have been met with strong opposition from
the law’s influential proponents, including
Crime Victims United and the Oregon
District Attorney’s Association.
Another hurdle reformers face is lesser-
known Measure 10, which amended the
Oregon Constitution to require that any
change to a voter-passed sentencing law
must get a two-thirds majority in both the
House and the Senate.
Shortly before taking the stage to kick off
the program, Multnomah County
Commissioner Loretta Smith waved her
hand toward the youthful organizers and
said, “These are the people Measure 11
affects - young black men.”
An alarming 74 percent of juvenile
defendants charged with Measure 11 crimes
were young people of color, according to a
Street Roots analysis earlier this year of
cases resolved during 2015 in Multnomah
County.
One of the youths’ recommendations is to
make the law less subjective by clarifying the
difference between Assault III and Robbery
III, which are not Measure 11 crimes, and
Assault II and Robbery II, which are. Their
reason for this recommendation is that a
disproportionate number of African-
Americans are charged with the more
serious, second-degree crimes.
These young men are adding their voices
to an ongoing and growing effort to reform
or repeal Measure 11, which was passed by
Oregon voters during the tough-on-crime era
News
of the 1990s.
Groups such as Partnership for Safety and
Justice and American Civil Liberties Union of
Oregon have long been outspoken against
mandatory minimum sentences, and in
February opponents of Measure 11 rallied in
Salem. Critics say the law prevents judges
from taking a defendant’s criminal history
and other factors, such as age, into
consideration at sentencing, and instead
gives all the power to prosecutors.
Johnson, civil rights director at Oregon
Department of Justice, echoed this
sentiment when he took the stage, saying,
“We have to start paying attention to our
district attorneys. They make the choice on
who gets charged with Measure 11.”
A Portland resident and father of four
sons, Elmer Yarbrough, also shared his
perspective on Measure 11 with the crowd.
He said when the law was passed in 1994, he
was “running the streets” in the
neighborhood surrounding Woodland Park,
where he now stood.
“Measure 11 came into play because of
the fear people had. It had a lot to do with a
lot of our young black men and the gang
activity that we had back then,” he said. Now,
he argued, “overzealous prosecutors” use
the threat of long sentences under Measure
11 to coerce defendants into snitching on
their friends or agreeing to plea deals.
“The fear that these young people have
about Measure 11 is real,” he said, “and the
tears and the falling out on court floors,
halfway losing their minds because someone
is telling them, you’re 16 years old, but
you’re going to spend 70 months in prison,
you’re going to have a felony on your record,
and when you get out, what options do you
have?”
Another problem with the law, the youths
explained, is fewer than 6 percent of young
people charged with Measure 11 crimes are
granted a second-look hearing, with many
required to waive their right to the hearing
in exchange for a lesser sentence.
A “second look” is a re-evaluation of a
juvenile’s sentence at the halfway mark. At
this hearing, an inmate’s progress, character,
stability and many other factors are weighed
to determine if they are eligible for early
release.
Because second-look hearings are used as
an incentive to change behavior, the young
men also recommended that these hearings
be required for youths convicted of Measure
11 crimes - or alternately, an effort should
be focused on evaluating the outcomes of
offering such hearings.
But front and center, was the youths’
recommendation that individuals younger
than 18 should not be charged as adults.
The youths argued incarcerating youths
impedes their development and is counter
productive to rehabilitation, and long
sentences under Measure 11 exacerbate
these effects.
When Portland Police Bureau Capt.
Modica addressed the audience, he said he
was drawing on more than 30 years’
experience with the bureau, and five years
working at a correctional facility before that.
“It’s very evident that while Measure 11,
as a remedy during the decade of the war on
crime, seemed to make sense, seemed to
bring comfort, it ruined lives and marginal
ized families and communities,” he said.
He continued, after noting that he was
speaking as a citizen and not as a
representative of the bureau, “I would
Page 5
P H O T O BY E M IL Y GREEN
Sang Dao gives the keynote speech Aug. 2 0 at “Rise Above: Measure
11 Reform. ” A t age 17, Dao was sentenced to 1 2 1 /2 years fo r
com mitting a Measure 11 crime. Then-Gov. John Kitzhaber granted
him clemency right before leaving office. Dao graduated magna cum
laude from Portland State University with a degree in criminal justice,
and today he works fo r M ultnom ah County’s Department o f
C omm unity Justice Juvenile Services Division.
"This Is my story, and I wanted to own it, and I
w aited to improve it. Because not only do 1 carry
my story, but the thousands of people that 1 came
across and their stories. They had some sim ilari
ties and some differences, hut at the same time
they were young, they were juveniles, and 1 don't
know what part of making someone feel bad
about themselves is going to help them to do
better later on in their life."
SANG DAO ,
K E Y N O TE SPEAKER
encourage all of you, that if this reaches a
ballot, if you have connectivity with your
elective, that you make it clear that not only
is second look appropriate, but possibly the
abolishment of Measure 11 itself.”
Portland’s police chief, Marshman, said he
found the presentation “impactful.”
He said, “I think a lot of the justice system
and social system partners in Multnomah
County need to look more at diversion
versus incarceration - you know,
intervention, prevention.”
He explained he wants to infuse
community policing into every branch of the
police department.
“I don’t want it siloed; I want it embedded
everywhere,” he said. “I think if we do this,
work with youth, work with kids, get in the
community, your crime suppression needs,
in my opinion, will be reduced.”
In regard to fixing the racial disparities in
the way Measure 11 is applied, he said:
“What can police do? Be a part of the
conversation. I know the people who work in
the system. I could probably push back a
little bit harder than others, at least to get
the conversation going.”