□rt land (®hserver__________________________ May 2.2007
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Second Chance for Juvenile Offenders Urged
Lawmakers consider
changes to Measure 11
(A P )-O reg o n lawmakers may
try to revise a 1994 get-tough-
on-erime law in a way that would
allow the early release o f juvenile
offenders charged with serious
crim es.
Some legislators and advocacy
groups say they think the public
is ready for a second look at
whether the law is cost-effective
and the best way to rehabilitate
young offenders.
M easure 11 requires judges to
sentence people convicted o f se
rious crim es, including young
offenders, to fixed prison terms
with no possibility of parole or
probation.
The House and Senate ju d i
ciary com m ittees recently con
d u c te d p u b lic h e a rin g s on
m easures to revise sentencing
procedures for 15, 16 and 17-
year-olds who com m it the most
serious crim es such as murder,
assault, robbery or kidnapping.
The House measure would give
those youths a chance to go be
17 -y e a r-o ld s
fore a judge for a
"second look" af
sh o u ld be d ealt
w ith d iffe re n tly
ter they have served
than 25-year-old
half o f their sen
h a rd en ed c rim i
te n c e s .
Ju d g e s
nals."
could grant youths
Under the Sen
release to serve the
rem ainder o f their
ate
m e a su re ,
youths would re
s e n te n c e s u n d e r
ceive pretrial hear
post-prison super
ings in adult court
vision if it can be
in w hich ju d g e s
proved that they
would determ ine
have made signifi
Rep.
Chip
Shields
cant progress while
w hether trying the
case in juvenile court or adult
incarcerated.
"I think the public, if you asked court would be best suited to
them, would be OK with giving protect public safety w hile pro
juveniles a 'second look,' " said moting rehabilitation.
A key lawmaker, Sen. Ginny
Rep. Chip Shields, D-Portland.
"Most people realize that 15- to Burdick, said it’s "nocoincidence"
that the M easure 11 issue is being
"Some o f these juveniles are
given a higher profile now that very, very dangerous, and some
D em ocrats are in charge o f both do need to go away for a very long
the House and the Senate for the time," the Portland Democrat said.
first tim e in 16 years.
"But the question is, do all o f them
Burdick, who is chairw om an need to? In my opinion, we are
o f the Senate Judiciary C om m it sacrificing some young lives that
tee, said it's doubtful that legisla we don't have to."
tion will pass this session, since
About 50 youths are sentenced
it would require a superm ajority each year under M easure 11,
o f law m akers in both cham bers according to state figures.
Kevin Neely, spokesm an for
to revise M easure 11.
Still, she said Democrats - as the O regon D istrict A ttorneys
well as some Republicans - be A ssociation, said the group will
lieve the time has com e to begin "vigorously oppose" the rewrite
a serious, long-term look at the o f a m easure that w as o v e r
effectiveness o f the state's laws w helm ingly approved by voters
aim ed at deterring crime, includ and which has been credited with
ing M easure 1 l's provisions deal helping to bring down O regon's
ing with juvenile offenders.
violent crim e rate.
Police Tactics Uneven
Minorities more likely to
be searched and arrested
(AP) -- Black, Hispanic and
white drivers are equally likely to
be pulled over by police, but
blacks and Hispanics are much
more likely to be searched and
arrested, a federal study found.
Police were much more likely
to threaten or use force against
blacks and Hispanics than against
whites in any encounter, whether
at a traffic stop or elsew here,
according to the Justice Depart
ment.
The study, released Sunday
by the department's Bureau of
Justice Statistics, covered police
contacts with the public during
2005 and was based on inter
views by the Census Bureau with
nearly 64,(XK) people age 16 or
over.
"The numbers are very con
sistent" with those found in a
sim ilar study o f police-public
contacts in 2002, bureau statisti
cian M atthew R. D urose, the
report's co-author, said in an
interview. "There's some stabil
ity in the findings over these
three years."
Traffic stops have become a
politically volatile issue. M inor
ity groups have complained that
many stops and searches are
based on race rather than on
legitimate suspicions. Blacks in
particular have complained of
being pulled over for simply
"driving while black."
"The available data is sketchy
but deeply concerning," said Hi
lary Shelton, director o f the
NAACP’s W ashington bureau.
The civil rights organization has
done its own surveys o f traffic
stops, and he said the racial
d isp a ritie s grow larger, the
deeper the studies delve.
Traffic stops are the most
frequent way police interact with
the public, accounting for 41
percent o f all contacts.
A series o f pro
vocative reader
boards at the
Florida Room, 435
N. Killingsworth
St., brought Max
Julian to a protest
Saturday outside
the bar and
restaurant.
photo by M ark
W ashington /
T he P ortland
O bserver
North Portland Reader Board Incites Protest
About a dozen local residents
gathered in front o f the Florida
Room in north Portland on Sat
urday to raise debate and discus
sion about what makes a good
business neighbor and what is
negative gentrification.
A changeable marquee to ad
vertise the establishment has car
ried language that some people
find offensive, especially in a neigh
borhood rooted in family and reli
gious values and just a few feet
from Jefferson High School.
The protesting group. Citizens
O vercom ing Racism and Sex
ism, read a proclam ation calling
on efforts to inform, educate and
support change that will improve
the quality o f life in north and
northeast Portland, and in par
ticular the African American com
munity.
Cocaine Sentencing Disparities Tackled
T he U nited States S e n te n c
ing C om m ission recom m ended
Sunday that C o ngress narrow
the current federal sentencing
d isp a rity b etw een c rack and
pow der cocaine offenses.
Distributing just five gram s o f
crack forexam ple, carries a m ini
mum 5-year federal prison sen
tence, w hile d istrib u tin g 500
gram s o f pow der cocaine carries
the same sentence. This is the
second time since 2002 the com
mission recom m ended that C on
I
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gress narrow this 100-1 ratio
disparity to 20-1.
"M em bers o f Congress must
not allow politics and myths about
crack and its users to prevent
them from doing what's right,”
said C aroline Fredrickson, direc
tor o f the A merican Civil Liber
ties U nion's W ashington, D.C.
legislative office.
T he A C LU said it w as d isa p
pointed the S entencing C o m
m ission did not recom m end a
com plete elim ination o f the sen
Ç n h ç r r i h J 503-288-0033
i-ii
n o
te n c in g d i s p a r i t y b e tw e e n
c ra c k an d p o w d e r c o c a in e ,
"d esp ite the w ealth o f research
and data it has collected over
the years indicating no m edical
or legal reason for the d isp a r
ity.
“T his unjust policy is based
on little m ore than politics and
urban m yths, ye, it's been a l
low ed to stand for over 20 years,
dev astatin g A frican-A m erican
co m m u n ities in the p ro cess,”
F rederickson said.
m b (Ohseruer I
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