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About Street roots. (Portland, OR) 1998-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 6, 2017)
, 2017 News Page 7 Racial disparity, harsh penalties cause D A s to pull back from some TriMet charges Fare jumpers won’t be charged with Class A misdemeanors BY EMILY GREEN sentence in Washington County was 28 days. 11 three district attorneys in Portland’s In Multnomah County, the average sentence was 15 days, costing taxpayers an tri-county area signed an agreement average of $2,520 per inmate. Tuesday, Jan. 3, stating their offices will no longer prosecute TriMet fare Efforts during the 2015 legislative session evasions or exclusions for interfering with to change the language of the charge so that it would no longer apply to someone who public transportation, or IPT. The agreement comes after district entered TriMet property while under exclusion failed. attorney offices in Multnomah, Clackamas Rep. Lew Frederick (D-Portland), and Washington counties all found that introduced the bill because, he said, IPTs among transit riders who didn’t pay their fare, African-Americans were excluded from are an example of regulations used to TriMet property at a significantly higher disproportionately target low-income people, rate than Caucasians. immigrants and people of color. After TriMet lobbyist Aaron Deas Transit riders can be excluded from TriMet property for many reasons, including arranged a sit down among TriMet officials, not paying their fare. The a TriMet-funded district exclusion typically attorney, legislators and remains in effect for 30 public defenders, the days. I f lbe number of African- House Judiciary In the majority of Committee reviewing the American transit riders cases, a person is bill decided to postpone and Caucasian riders charged with interfering its first hearing, were equal, fo r every one with public effectively ending its transportation when they Caucasian rid e r charged chances for passage that are caughtfare jumping session. w ith IPT, there would he According to after being excluded - eight African-Americans Multnomah County not for physically charged w ith IPT, District Attorney Rod interfering with the Underhill, 500 cases operation of a public --- involving IP T c h a rg e s transit vehicle as the come into his office for name of the charge would review each year. Of those, he said, 350 to suggest. 400 cases involve someone who was charged Interfering with public transportation is a with an IPT because they were caught Class A misdemeanor and carries a riding TriMet, Usually for not paying their punishment of up to one year in jail. fare, while under exclusion. Street Roots first reported bn the “The other 100 or 150 are going to be excessive nature of this charge and its drain behavioral based,” he said, “but amongst on court resources in March of 2015 (Street both groups we see disproportionality - Roots, “TriMet Exclusions: One wrong from an RRI (Relative Rate Index) step”). According to data compiled by the Oregon standpoint, of about 8 to 1 range.” That means that if the number of African- Criminal Justice Commission, for those who American transit riders and Caucasian received jail sentences resulting from IPTs riders were equal, for every one Caucasian from 2010 to April 2014, the average S T A F F W R IT E R ■ 3111 Did you serve in the Armed Forces experiencing or at risk of and are becoming hnmplpss? Transition Projects STREET ROOTS PHOTO rider charged with IPT, there would be eight African-Americans charged with IPT. Also playing into the top prosecutors’ decision to stop applying this charge to fare jumpers was its seriousness/ “We see Class A misdemeanors for assault and DUII,” said Underhill. “Where should the proportionality be for fare evasion?” A ccordin g to th e a g r ee m e n t, p r o sec u to rs will review those who ignore their exclusions from TriMet property for lesser, Class C misdemeanor charges instead, such as criminal trespass or theft in the third degree. TriMet also issued a statement saying it deems the district attorneys’ decision to change their policies around IPTs to be fair. Both TriMet and district attorney statements reiterated that a recent independent evaluation of fare enforcement on TriMet by Portland State University’s Criminal Justice Policy Research Institute found no evidence of systemic racial bias, although it did find there was reason to more closely examine why African-American riders were being excluded at a higher rate than white riders. But fare jumpers will continue to be ticketed, and IPTs aren’t going away completely. , “We agree with Tri-Met and others that ’naers’needtoiee'lsaie^^oh^ffie^MAXand^Bus lin es. C o n seq u en tly w e w ill c o n tin u e to review for prosecution IPT charges for persons engaging in or excluded from Tri Met for qualifying behavior-related conduct such as that which involves assaultive or offensive physical contact, disorderly conduct that involves the use of physical force or conduct immediately likely to result in the use of physical force,” read the agreement You can read the full agreement online at news.streetroots.org. emily@streetroots. org
