Nationally, on any given night, approximately 81,000 youth are confined to juvenile facilities and 10,000 children are held in adult jails and prisons. Approximately 1 in 10 young male high school dropouts is incarcerated or in juvenile detention. For African Americans, that number is 1 in 4. Research shows that just over two million youth under the age of 18 were arrested in 2008. Of these two million, about 95 percent had not been accused of violent crimes. In 2010, of the nearly 100,000 youth under the age of 18 who were serving time in a juvenile residential placement facility, 26 percent had been convicted of property crimes only, such as burglary, arson, or theft. Access to education both stems the tide of incarceration and improves inmates chances of re-acclimating to society after their release.
“The bill had broad support from a cross-section of organizations and leaders. Leaders of the Oregon Department of Corrections and the Oregon Youth Authority supported it and so did the association that represents juvenile department directors. Dozens of retired Circuit Court and appellate judges from across the state submitted a letter to the Legislature encouraging a yes vote.“
The Oregonian
July 22, 2019
Read More“Instead of imposing sentences that help rehabilitate juvenile offenders so they return to their communities with the skills, judgment and motivation to contribute, the system instead broadcasts to 15, 16 and 17-year-olds that they’ve blown their chance at a future and their fate is set, no matter their willingness to make amends. How discouraging that Oregon’s communities would believe themselves to be so fragile.“
The Oregonian
April 28, 2019
Read More"To protect student confidentiality, those formal threat assessments are highly secret. But one Oregon family agreed to allow an unfettered view into their case as it unfolded. The family provided documents and records of meetings with school officials and allowed a reporter into their home for extended periods over several months. They did this, they said, because they hoped making visible the experience of undergoing a threat assessment would inform the debate about how to keep students safe. What happened to their son sheds light on how the desire to thwart a shooting can have unintended consequences."
The Oregonian
June 24, 2018
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