About
This blog was developed to provide accurate information about Oregon Measure 11, the mandatory minimum sentencing law passed in 1994.
Since this law was passed, there have been many unintended consequences including innocent people being forced to plead quilty (plea bargaining) with district attorneys in order to avoid years in jail, prison overpopulation and the need to build new facilities (the governor’s budget called for over $1 Billion this year just for prisons – the highest amount in history), judges being prevented from sentencing fair and appropriate punishment, juries being prevented from knowing all case facts and the effects of their verdicts, etc.
Sadly, an overwhelming majority of Oregonians know little to nothing about this crippling law until personally faced with it themselves.
After several requests by readers, we have created a way for you to be able to help with our website expenses. Simply click the button above and you will be taken to a secure server. Thank you so much for your support!
Loading ...
Comments»
Thank you for creating this site. I will share it with as many fellow Oregonians as I can. I will link it to my other websites so others can stumble upon it. I haven’t read the blogs yet, but I am anxious to.
-ellen
you know what gets me a man can go to jail for 37 years over a little girls “dream” and someone can go out and commit murder and only get 10 years. he was sentence last week
you know what is this most devasting part of this whole law is that we lock our kids up for long amounts of time, expect them to get out and be productive only for them to realize that they can’t get decent job or housing because they have been convicted of a measure 11 crime (which shows up on all criminal background checks) now come something has to give.
After my husband was sentenced under measure 11, I have not heard or found one good or beneficial thing towards this measure. My husband was a first time offender; rather than him giving back to the community for his crime, the community has to pay for him to sit in prison and be exposed to everyday horror. How is this measure helping anyone or anything? It’s NOT.
Thank you for posting this site! My son who turned 16 yrs old one month prior to getting arrested and having never committed any other crimes, was convicted under Measure 11. He got 7 yrs and all of the “advantages” they said he would get, are totally bogus. He has lost his entire teen yrs and for what?
Richelle….what advantages did they say he would get, and why would he get them? What County did he fall in?
Measure 11 is the prosecuting attorney’s wet dream. It gives them all the power. It takes away from the judge the ability to decide what is an appropriate sentence for given crime, to filter the shades of gray that is life, from the black and white of the law. This law has given an imbalance to the justice system, the pendulum is now, fully in the DAs court.
Tom, it’s been that way since April 1, 1994, and the people of Oregon through Measure 11 gave them the power, not once, in 1994 but also in 2000.
One reoccurring theme that runs through these stories, is that your person “inside” is a victim of the law. Seems like we are hard to learn the lessons, it’s been a law for 16 years.
We need to drill it into our children that if they do one of the crimes on the measure 11 list, they will catch you, and you will go to prison, end of story, no get out early, no clemency, you do every day.. Few stories say “my person was just walking down the street, tending to his own business and the cops pulled up and whisked him away”. In order for this law to work, we need to help our person inside learn how to keep this from happening again….I think the study shows that 70% reoffend and are back in prison before post prison supervision is completed…3 years…. that’s not a good scenario.
Once my loved one get sentenced, it was my responsibility to help my son accept what had happened to him, encourage him to take advantage of anything positive offered inside, stay out of the drama, prepare himself to come home and stay away from friends, drugs, booze, women, gangs or what ever he allowed to influence him in a negative way..
The community is willing to pay to put you in prison and keep you there for as long as possible. It’s our job to change our behavior, focus on a goal and make up for the time we lost while in prison.
Don’t encourage your person to be the victim of measure 11, it’s a large bump in the road, but you can get over that bump….or not….