2016
Washington
Classic
QR code for
Portland Observer
Online
‘City of Roses’
SECTION B
Volume XLV
Number 19
www.portlandobserver.com
Wednesday • May 11, 2016
Established in 1970
Committed to Cultural Diversity
Roadblocks at the Courthouse
Report on DAs is push for criminal justice reform
M ichael l eighton
p ortland o bserver e ditor
As Oregon votes in next
week’s Primary Election most of
the candidates overseeing crimi-
nal justice in the state won’t face
any opposition and that’s a road-
block to reforming laws that dis-
proportionately impact minori-
ties, according to a new report
by the American Civil Liberties
Union of Oregon.
District attorneys (DAs) in Or-
egon are rarely challenged even
though they have a powerful role
in our criminal justice system
and that locks in the status quo,
said David Rogers, the nonproit
group’s state executive director.
He said the resulting number
of unopposed races, including
Multnomah County which covers
Portland, leads to less voter en-
gagement on criminal justice re-
form issues and continues a pat-
tern where state district attorneys
have blocked a bipartisan push
for “smart” justice.
“Given the recent high-proile
stories about racial disparity in
Multnomah County, it is import-
ant to show one of the reasons we
aren’t making progress,” Rogers
said.
Earlier this year, a MacArthur
Foundation Safety and Justice re-
port made in conjunction with the
Oregon Justice Resource Center,
other justice groups and govern-
ment oficials found that at ev-
ery stage of the criminal justice
system in Portland and across
Oregon you are punished more
severely if you are black, Latino
or Native American.
“District attorneys determine
whether someone gets access to
treatment or put in jail or prison,
whether a youth is charged as an
adult, and DAs largely inluence
the extent of racial disparity in
the system” said Rogers. “Vot-
photo by M ichael l eighton /t he p ortland o bserver
ers deserve to know where their
Outside the Multnomah County Courthouse, David Rogers, executive director of the American Civil
elected DAs stand on all of these
Liberties Union of Oregon, gives attention to a new ACLU Oregon report showing how uncontested
issues.”
district attorney races are a factor in tapping down criminal justice reform.
Between 2004 and 2014, 78
by
percent of Oregon district attor-
ney races were uncontested, and
over 1 million Oregonians did
not cast votes in their DA race,
according to the ACLU investi-
gation.
The ACLU Oregon investiga-
tion inds that district attorneys
are in the best position to imple-
ment new policies to curtail state
prison growth and spending, but
points to the Oregon District At-
torneys Association for blocking
proposed legislative reforms.
“Instead of being the leaders
in criminal justice reform, DAs
have largely been roadblocks
Even as crime rates have sig-
niicantly decreased, prosecutors
have increased the rate at which
they charge people with felonies,
Rodgers said. “Oregon’s goal
should be to reduce the prison
population, a goal DAs don’t
seem to share.”
When Michael Schrunk retired
four years ago as district attorney
for Multnomah County after 32
years in ofice in which he drew
an opponent just one time, his
chief deputy Rod Underhill ran
for the ofice unopposed. On the
ballot for re-election on Tuesday,
he again faces no challenger.
Rogers says it’s possible Un-
derhill can be a leader on justice
reform issues, but being part of
the solution won’t happen with-
out a public that’s more engaged
and one that’s demands account-
ability.
He cites the Portland Police
Bureau’s union-contracted 48
hour rule, which allows oficers
to delay talking to investigators
for 48 hours after an oficer-in-
volved shooting, as an example
of an issue that justice activists
have sought to eliminate, but has
gone nowhere for years.
Reforming the grand jury pro-
cess over the decision to indict
police oficers around misconduct
or oficer-involved shootings is
c ontinued on p age 4