July 18, 2018
Page 13
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O PINION
Creating a Justice System that Works for Everyone
Community
supervisors play
critical role
e rika p reuitt
In my 25 years
working in the criminal
justice system, I have
seen the widespread
impact extended jail
stays have on individ-
uals, families, and communities
at-large – loss of employment
and wages, disruption to families,
and interruption to treatment and
care for those who need it. What’s
more, the misuse and overuse of
jail perpetuates racial disparities
and can turn jails into warehouses
for people suffering from mental
health and substance abuse is-
sues. Locking up people who pose
limited or no risk to public safe-
ty comes at great cost with little
benefit. This is not what jail was
intended for. We can serve our
by
whole community better.
Monica’s story is an example of
the kind of success possible when
we rethink how we use jails and
direct resources to prov-
en alternatives. Monica
spent years struggling
with addiction and cy-
cling in and out of jail
for drug-related of-
fenses. Her time in jail
forced her to miss birth-
days, graduations, the
birth of a grandchild, and other
major life milestones. But today,
she has been sober and out of jail
for 16 years. She’s a proud busi-
ness-owner and dedicated years
of her life to helping survivors of
domestic violence.
Monica was determined to turn
her life around, but she didn’t do
it alone. We know that for many
people like Monica who come in
contact with the justice system,
the critical catalysts for change
are dedicated probation officers
and service providers who are in
unique positions to create lasting
change in people’s lives. In Moni-
ca’s case, her probation/parole of-
ficer helped connect her with ad-
diction treatment, job training, and
peer support services, and played
the role of mentor and cheerleader
for her long-term success.
In Multnomah County and
across the country, communi-
ty supervision professionals are
helping put people like Monica on
better paths and break cycles of in-
carceration. We know community
supervision can play an important
role helping reduce rates of recid-
ivism and over-incarceration. In
Multnomah County, in 2017 the
Department of Community Jus-
tice reduced jail bed use by an
average of 62 beds per day and
maintained recidivism rates below
the state average by engaging in
deliberate jail reduction strategies.
We also know that, as in Monica’s
case, supervisors can be critical in
connecting people with jail alter-
natives, such as treatment for sub-
stance abuse and mental health is-
sues that have long-term impacts.
One such alternative service is
soon to open in Multnomah Coun-
ty. As part of the MacArthur Foun-
dation’s Safety and Justice Chal-
lenge, the county will soon open
a new transitional housing facil-
ity for justice-involved women,
with a particular focus on serving
women of color.
The facility – named the Di-
ane Wade House after the much
beloved probation/parole officer
who helped hundreds of women in
her community, including Monica
– will provide transitional hous-
ing for justice-involved women
referred by the Department of
Community Justice who are in
need of mental health stability and
support, as well as cognitive-be-
havioral and culturally-respon-
sive curriculum day services for
women from across the county.
Programming will be Afrocentric,
gender-specific, and trauma-in-
formed to reflect people’s lived
experiences and help reduce ra-
cial and gender disparities in our
current system. The new facility is
part of the county’s overall goals
to end jail overuse and misuse and
reduce racial and ethnic dispari-
ties in our local justice system.
As jurisdictions like Mult-
nomah County continue the
necessary work of local justice
system reform, community su-
pervisors will continue to play
important roles. This week is of-
ficially Pretrial, Probation, and
Parole Supervision Week, a time
to recognize the work these pro-
fessionals do impacting people’s
lives, maintaining public safety,
and creating a justice system that
works for everyone. I encourage
everyone to learn more about the
work underway locally and across
the country.
Erika Preuitt is deputy director
of Multnomah County’s Depart-
ment of Community Justice’s and
president of the American Proba-
tion and Parole Association.
Employing the Tactic of Naming and Shaming
It works and
should be
continued
o scar h. b layton
There was a reason
Ku Klux Klan mem-
bers wore hoods that
hid their faces.
Anonymity allows
people to act upon
their worst instincts without hav-
ing to suffer the consequences.
Southern bigots acted out their
racial hatred as night riders and
then resumed their roles as re-
sponsible doctors, policemen,
judges and other model citizens
the next day because no one knew
who was behind the masks.
The Internet has given individ-
uals similar anonymity, allowing
trolls and haters to assume false or
cloaked identities as they terrorize
their victims in cyberspace.
There had always been a certain
shame that attached to depraved
acts of cruelty. Bullies and sadists
did not want to be known for their
true selves. If the world did not
by
know who they were, they could
dress themselves in a suit of false
rectitude and hypocritically wag
their fingers at those they deem to
be unfit.
Today,
however,
there is a new norm for
bullying and sadism.
Donald Trump has fig-
uratively flung wide
the gates of hell and all
its minions have come
spilling out. His cabinet
is rife with villains determined to
leave the entire Earth worse than
when they found it. They appear
to take joy in abusing the helpless
and molesting the rights of peo-
ple they consider unworthy.
Trump’s lieutenants are so
drunk with power they believe
that through their lies they can
support bigotry, greed and cal-
lousness with impunity. But
recent events have shown that
America has had enough of this
bad behavior and will not allow it
to be normalized.
In confronting Trumpism, we
can all take a lesson from Emile
Zola, the French journalist who
in a famous 1898 commentary
Letter to the Editor
Give Pot to Seniors
titled “J’accuse” charged the
French president and government
with anti-Semitism because of a
blatant case of injustice against
a Jewish French military offi-
cer, Alfred Dreyfus. Dreyfus had
been falsely accused and convict-
ed of treason due to anti-Semitic
sentiment in France at the time.
Zola’s charge against the pres-
ident and government of France
spoke truth to power so forceful-
ly that it started a groundswell of
support for Dreyfus that led to his
being released from prison and
awarded a medal for having en-
dured martyrdom.
This tactic of “Naming and
Shaming” also has been used for
years by Human Rights Watch
to confront dictators and human
rights violators around the world
with an aim towards forcing them
to stop their bad behavior. Now
it is time to employ this tactic at
home.
We know who the bad actors
are, and we know what they are
doing to enable a maniacal, pow-
er hungry demagogue who poses
a threat, not only to this country,
but to the world. The Nuremberg
Trials established the principle
that individuals cannot escape the
consequences of their actions by
claiming that they were merely
following orders, and Trump’s
minions cannot escape responsi-
bility for their bad behavior by
claiming they were only carrying
out the president’s wishes.
Among some Democrats who
consider themselves to be pro-
gressive, there is strong support
for the tactic of naming and
shaming when used against for-
eign dictators and their enablers.
But they appear to value civility
over justice and wring their hands
over the lack of decorum when it
is used against Trump’s enablers.
These Democrats have turned on
Congresswoman Maxine Waters
of California and chided her for
speaking truth to power when
she called for all right-thinking
Americans to confront Trump’s
enablers whenever they show
their faces in public.
Those of us old enough to re-
member the Civil Rights Move-
ment recall that Southern bigots
and their enablers intoned in the
1960s how demonstrators lacked
civility and proposed proper de-
corum as the path to voting rights
and equal justice when confront-
ed with fire hoses, vicious po-
lice dogs and bludgeoning night
sticks.
Only after it became clear that
civil disobedience would persist
until the humanity of people of
color was recognized that Amer-
ica’s political and cultural land-
scape began to change.
For anyone who has a love
for humanity, White House Press
Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sand-
ers and the rest of Trump’s hellish
minions are not entitled to civil-
ity, regardless how many “white
girl tears” they shed over being
ejected from restaurants and oth-
er public places.
Shaming them is a tactic that
works and should be continued,
as it is quite possibly the way to
bring America back to a sane path
– the qualms of those who would
abide tyranny for the sake of de-
corum notwithstanding.
Oscar H. Blayton is a former
Marine Corps combat pilot and
human rights activist who prac-
tices law in Virginia.
Recent news coverage has in-
dicated that there is an oversupply
of pot. Well many of us seniors
grew up smoking the stuff. It was
and is the only way we can cope
with our vicious economy and the
never ending increase in the cost
of living.
Some of us, like me, had to
retire early because of drug test-
ing. Many of us are physically
and mentally impaired due to the
stress and strain of working in our
free enterprise economy. We live
near poverty.
Let seniors have the oversupply
for free. We can no longer afford
to live, and yes, we are addicted.
Help us.
Bruce Badrick
Northeast Portland