Juvenile Justice

Adopted 1997. Updated 2003, 2006.

1.  The general goals and characteristics of the juvenile justice system should be to:

• Protect the public.
• Stress programs for prevention, early intervention and treatment for delinquents and at-risk youth.  These programs should provide care, guidance, treatment and control to promote the child’s welfare.
• Provide fair and impartial procedures.
• Promote personal responsibility and accountability for one’s delinquent acts.
• Reform and rehabilitate offenders.
• Promote swift and decisive intervention.
• Maintain an open and accountable system.
• Stress alternatives to detention or incarceration.

2.  We believe that mandatory minimum sentencing for a broad range of juvenile crimes is not a desirable goal of the juvenile justice system.  The justice system should have some flexibility to consider a youth’s family circumstances and personal history.  There should be guidelines for sentencing to encourage equal sentences for equal offenses, but these should not be mandatory.

3.  We support the adoption of a “second look” concept for 15- to 17-year-olds convicted of Measure 11 offenses.  The purpose of this “second look” should be to encourage rehabilitation.  The decision to reduce a sentence should be made in a court hearing before a judge and based on testimony from a panel of professionals acquainted with the case.

4.  Although the over-representation of minorities in the Multnomah County Juvenile Justice system is due in large part to societal problems, we agree with justice officials that the justice system should work to correct this imbalance in the following ways suggested by Krisberg and Austin in their publication Reinventing Juvenile Justice:

• Increase the ethnic balance in law enforcement, probation and court agencies.
• Require cultural sensitivity training for police, probation officers and judges.
• Establish drug treatment programs and make them readily available.
• Create job training and placement programs.
• Increase involvement of minority communities in police work.
• Establish family support services in minority communities.
• Build mentoring programs for at-risk youth.

5.  Services of the justice system, such as parent effectiveness classes, should be extended to family members of youth involved with the justice system. Punishment of parents for the acts of their children should occur only after all other efforts have proved ineffective. An array of possible penalties in addition to financial fines should be available to provide a flexible response to gaining parental cooperation.

6.  Youth under the age of 18 should not be subject to automatic waiver to adult court. Youth under 15 should be assumed incapable of understanding the legal system adequately to stand trial in adult court. All other juveniles should be evaluated for their competency to stand trial before being turned over to the adult court system.