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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 2, 1994)
’ M»*»* «A« « .* ’. .^ . T he P ortland O bserver • N ovember 2, 1994 State Takes Aim At Revolving Door Of Crime by Programs Target Minority Juvenile Justice F rank A. H all Perhaps one of the least under stood terms in criminal justice is “recidivism.” Recidivism refers to offenders who relapse into criminal activities following their release from prison The Oregon Department of Corrections measures recidivism by tracking adult offenders for three years following their release from prison to see if they return to prison for any reason. Some offenders returned to pris on have not committed a new crime, but have violated conditions of their supervision following prison. The department looks at the return rate to prison one, two and three years after release. This is the “official” recidi vism rate. The good news is recidivism in Oregon has declined steadily for the past several years. The one, two and three year recidivism rates are all declining. The three-year rate has already dropped from a high of 47 percent down to 40 percent. Because the most recent one and two year rates have improved so dramatically, the department anticipates that the next three year rate will drop to ap proximately 30 percent. Programs for inmates while they are in prison and immediately upon their return to the community are making a big difference and are al ready going a long way toward re ducing recidivism. Research contin ues to show that intensive alcohol and drug treatment programs in the prisons with community follow-up result in a 50 percent reduction in arrests and a 70 percent reduction in convictions of offenders who com plete these programs. Clearly this level of treatment and follow-up is an investment in long-term public safe ty, with the added bonus of being far less expensive than the cost to re arrest, prosecute and imprison of fenders who do not succeed. Every inmate who comes back into the cor rections system costs Oregon tax payers $20,000 a year that could be used for education, programs for children and the elderly and crime prevention. In a 1992 study, researchers found that offenders who succeeded in the community were more likely than those who failed to have a job, a stable living environment and to be clean and sober. In the area of em ployment alone, over one-half of the successful offenders had jobs and were working more than half-time. In contrast, only one-quarter of the offenders who returned to prison had a job. The same 1992 study showed that fully 80 percent of the individu als who go to prison have failed on INMATES RETURNING TO PRISON G rant m onies have been awarded to three community-based programs aimed at reducing mi nority populations in the state’s juvenile justice system. The Oregon Commission on Children and Families recently awarded $40,000 to the Mexican- American Citizens’ League’s His panic Youth On the Move pro gram, $60,000 to the Marion Coun ty Children and Families Commis sion and $60,000 to the Lane Coun ty Department of Youth Services. “Community-based programs like these will serve as models for other counties as we work on re ducing minority over-representa tion in ourjuvenile justice system,” said Jonathan Ater, chair of the commission. The programs will address the over-representation issue by in creasing services that meet the unique cultural needs of minority youth in the juvenile justice sys tem. The funding follows a series of developments, including a fed eral law requiring states to deter mine whether minority youth are being confined in detention to de grees higher than other populations and to address racial inequality where it is present. INMATES RETURNING TO PRISON Oregon Department of Corrections Director Frank Hall. probation or post-prison supervision, either because they committed new crimes or failed to meet supervision and treatment conditions in the com munity. The Department of Corrections concentrates its efforts on programs that prepare offenders for law-abid ing life after prison. In addition to alcohol and drug treatment, programs include job readiness, work, anger management and other skills to im prove the inmate’s ability to live successfully in the free world. Al though prison programs have been expanded over the past three years, there are still many offenders who cannot get into programs because of long waiting lists. A critical corrections strategy that we have pursued focuses on of fenders’ cognitive skills. Known as “cognitive restructuring,” this ap proach confronts offenders with their criminal behavior, shows them how to accept full responsibility and gives them the tools and skills to make a positive change. There are a number of programs that use a cognitive ap proach as a basic building block in cluding the Oregon Summit boot camp program, most of the alcohol and drug programs, Pathfinders and Breaking Barriers. All of these pro grams are built around the idea of helping offenders change the way they think so they can begin tochange their behavior. It has been said that rehabilitation cannot be imposed on offenders. This may be true, but the cognitive skills programs provide powerful tools that are helping many offenders begin to correct criminal thinking errors. After offenders complete their prison sentences they are subject to strict conditions of post-prison su pervision which they must comply with in order to keep their freedom. Community Corrections officers around the state use services and sanctions to hold offenders account able. Programs offered in the com munity that have a documented im pact on recidivism include day re porting, job search, employment, housing, community-based drug and alcohol treatment and a range of oth er programs and interventions. Of fender accountability is central to all correctional programs, and sanctions are imposed swiftly and surely in response to violations of supervision rules. Support of a full spectrum of community-based correctional ser vices and sanctions is a vital part of the total effort to reduce recidivism in Oregon. (Editor’s note: Frank A. Hall is the director of the Oregon Depart ment of Corrections.) Juvenile Justice Director Retires INMATES RETURNING TO PRISON Multnomah County Juvenile Justice Director Hal Ogburn has announced his retirement in De- cember after 18 years with the agen cy. A national search to find a replacement will be launched im mediately, according to Multnomah County Chair Beverly Stein. Stein said Ogburn has done an outstanding job of leading the ju venile justice system though diffi cult times. During his tenure he devel oped programs to combat the rise in youth gangs and the increasing demands on county programs as a result of the downsizing of the state’s Maclaren School for juve nile offenders. Ogburn also led the effect to replace the aging D onald E. Long Home with a new facility. C onstruction is currently un derway with one wing already in use and com pletion sch e d uled for early 1986. Stein said the county would be “looking for a replacement with the skills and experience to keep the community safe from juvenile crime and to implement appropri ate community sanctions to pro vide sure and certain accountabili ty for first-time offenders.” Inmate Release Audit Finds Errors Some errors were found in the calculation of inmate release dates in an audit of the Oregon State Board of Parole and Post-Prison Supervision Division. The audit was completed earlier this month in 100 randomly selected files. The audits division of the Ore gon Secretary of State assisted the board in designing the scope and ’----------------------------------- I methodology of the audit. The files consisted of inmates im prisoned for m urder, aggravat ed m urder, rape and sodom y. Because the board does not set prison term s for cases after Nov. 1, 1989, the audit involved cases prior to that date. The board identified six ele ments that could affect the calcula tion of an inmate’s release date and found that in 94 percent of the cases no errors were discovered. Four cases had errors that could have resulted in early release and two cases that contai ned errors that could have kept an inmate past the release date. The largest error was 31 days, one was 29 days and two were four days, two days and one day respec tively. In the course of the audit, 12 clerical errors were discovered which would not affect release dates. All the errors have been corrected. According to chairperson Marva Fabien, the board has been perform ing a series of audits for almost a year. “The board is pleased with the results of this internal audit. As with the previous audit, there was no evi dence that errors resulted in the early release of inmates,” Fabien said. “Given the complexity of the laws, rules and regulations in this area of the law, the results are evidence of a high level of diligence by the board in maintaining the integrity of records over the past 20 years.” X A d v ertise in B A N K I N O N A M E R I C A (The |.lin tl;tn i> (O lis rru e r call (503) 288-0033 Free checking that lasts 479 gam es. - T h a t’s until the year 2(MM) to be exact. Y ou’ll also get a free ord er o f B lazer 25th A n n iv e rsa ry c o m m e m o ra tiv e c h e ck s, a free Speedy Service Friendly Call For Quote Blazer checkhcxrk cover, mid m ore. A nd w hen you sign up for F ree C h e c k in g U n t ie t h e Y e a r 2O O O free Blazer C hecking. vote for your all-tim e favorite B lazers mid enter the Legendary L ine-U p Sw eepstakes. T he grand prize is a pair o f season tickets for the ’9 5 -'9 6 season in the new R ose G arden A rena. 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