Your Story
Many lives and families have been torn apart by mandatory minimum sentences (Oregon measure 11). This section is created for anyone and everyone to tell their story of how this measure has directly affected themselves or their loved ones.
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My brother was wrongly accused of brushing dirt off a girl’s pants and now faces 75 months in prison. This is completely insane!
juvenile, not there when my son was talking to his lawyer every time, and sentence as an adult not as a juvenile, crazing this is. and serving 25 years for not knowing if he had kill a man or not until he was talk to buy police. did not intend to murder someone at all. cause he was on heavly on drugs with 2 other men. and he’s been in for 12 years now. he needs to get out and come home. I feel he will never take some ones life at all again. he’s is not that kind of person.
us mothers do know are children, and we need them back.
take measure 11 off. instead have classes and work for them and school.from a lonely mother that tried to get help from the juvenile system and did not get that help.
My 15 year old developmentally disabled son was coerced by one of his peers into going out and robbing people for money. The peer had told my son,”I did it before at the Rose Quarter and it’s very easy; I’ll show you how to do it.” Before I knew it the police called that they had my son, this peer, and a 12 year old boy in custody. Upon reading the police reports, the victim said he thought it was a joke and did not want to make a statement, however, the police talked him into making a statement and now my son is facing a Measure 11 charge of 7 years in prison. The sad thing is that he doesn’t fully understand the implications of his actions. He has been in juvenile for almost 6 months. All he says to me is ,”Mom, I want to go home.” What am I supposed to tell him? His attorney is not stopping this from happening. In fact, the peer who coerced my son plans to testify against him. What is that? He started all this to begin with. This law definiytely needs to change -especially for children who do not understand because they have mental health issues. They are treating him as if he fully understands what he did. I am looking for help from other parents who have developmentally disabled or children with mental health issues affected by this law. It’s wrong because it does not fit all kids and I am sure the judges know it and the juvenile authorities know this too, because they see it doesn’t fit kids like my son.I am asking for help from other parents. VickyG63@comcast.net
Glad to find this web sight here. For us measure 11 has destroyed the whole families life. Ane the tax payers are paying for this court measure 11 manditory crime. My friend who is now in his 20’s. He is disables with Muscular Dystrophy and his life span is to about 30 years in a wheelchair full tims and then after that death at any time depending on what the desease brings him, was attacted in an intersection while he was driving by a drug dealer. He drove off and never looked back, but the drug dealer had jumped at his car from the front hood and fell off when the car drove off. On lookers called the police. Later that day he was sighted and put in jail for assalt and failure to report someone coming in contact with his vehicle. He was tried under measure 11 law, which forced him to plea bargain on failure to preform driver duties. This was a mandatory 13 month prison sentence. He served it like a man. They had him in a medium security prison for a minimum crime, and told his family it was due to the fact that the minimun security prisons in Oregon dont have medical units. Isnt that discrimination? He could have fallen at any time in prison and broken his back or died. ( for failure to preforn duties of a driver). Guess the state is giving death sentences for these crimes now. Then he gets out and is home for 6 months. He was offered a program in the courts where if he went to the court each week and followed all the meetings and court ordered things they gave him to do, then his record would be whiped clean. Problem is, they had his going to 8 different court ordered meetings per week, which no drivers liscense to get there, and unable to walk to bus stops because of the MD. However, the bigger problem was , he was caught driving on the revoked liscence at this time. He was again sentenced to a measure 11 manditory 18 months in prison. This would never happen in another state with no measure 11 law. Yes, he once again served in a midium securuty prison. Shame on Oregon . Shame . This young man has pain every day and endures other making fun and loosing ability each day more and more. Can nobody see the picture here? Shame… I see others who have drug problems and even steal each day to buy them. They are in and out of our county jail all year long for year after year. And here is a young man who yes, has had his problems as well, and are you going to tell me that no DA , no any body can see that this is a sin and a crime in its self to give these unjust punishments? Measure 11 is not only hurting the offenders but whole comunity? taxpayers are paying out the nose for this. shame on a state that can retionalize this teatment and let it happen. sick… sick…. sick
When you say that it is a crime in itself to give these unjust punishments, I definitely agree with you!
Measure 11 was originally passed by voter in 1998. It took effect the next year. Among the list were the obvious crimes: murder, rape, aggravated assault, and
If there is someone who you’re trying to communicate with and due to all the others, you’re having a difficult time hearing, would you pull the person aside to say what you were trying before? Hopefully not. Under this law, which the state can’t fully fund as is, you could be charged and found guilty of second degree kidknapping. I ask is this serious. Unfortunately. What’s worse is the fact that thse offenders are not given the opportunity to do some corrections work or treatment during their sentences. And why not? Is the state secretely using it’s third strike law against them, knowing that it chose not to offer any form of treatment?
Even worse: there is a ballot initiative on the Nov. 4th, 2008 ballot creating mandatory minimums for first time drug and property offenders. That’ll just be another the police can hassle potheads with less than an ounce. Hassle with tweakers, if you must. And heroin. Is that because it requires less (if any) investigation? I think so. SO IN NOVEMBER, PLEASE VOTE NO ON MEASURE 61. It would be a lot less detrimental to vote yes or to be unsure of Measure 57.
My best friend is serving 70 months in prison because of measure 11. He was at the scene of a guy being beat up. He did not beat him up, someone else did. The person who did the beating did not arrive with my friend and my friend did not know the person who beat the other guy up. My friend never tried to hurt anyone and has always been very nonconfrontational. He is not a violent person at all. He did jump out of his truck and pulled the guy who was doing the beating off the guy who was being beaten. For this the guy who actually beat up the other guy got 36months, while my friend got 70 months. It makes no sense to me at all. The reason why the other guy got 36 months, he took the plea bargain and then testified against my friend. My friend would not take the plea bargain(48months)because he knew that he had done nothing wrong and was sure that in court he would find justice. What he found was a public defender that did not defend him at all. She did not even introduce several pieces of evidence into court. She did nothing. He is innocent and yet he sits in prison waiting. It is so wrong what has happened to him. I could go on and on with the different ways he got rolled by the system. He is a very gentle and kind person. I hope this whole thing does not change that. I am scared for him every day. I am scared for his four children that have lost the best father a kid could ever hope to have. He didn’t try to hurt anyone, he tried to keep someone from being beat up. This is what he gets for it.
My son is serving 70 months on a Measure 11. He is mentally challenged as I stated in a previous post. A few weeks ago I went to visit him and he had 2 black eyes and scratches all over his throat. He is mentally & emotionally at the age of a 9 to 10 yr old. And what do the courts do? They put him in with kids his chronological age (16) and he gets beat up! I warned the judge & DA this would happen but they don’t care at all! They are committing child abuse–knowingly & willfully — and they put the name MEASURE 11 on it. So for the next 5 yrs and 10 months my developmentally disabled child will be subject to bullying and abuse. They send him away for 70 months and guess what he will be when he comes out? Since he is so easily influenced by everyone around him society will have a kid who learns how to rob, steal, kill, etc. This is messed up. You people of OREGON –SOMETHING MUST BE DONE. Our vulnerable childen and citizens are being abused by the same system we are supposed to trust.The judges and DA don’t care because its not their kid. If they ever had to go through anything like this, they would change the law. But why won’t they change it for us?
There is too much money and too many jobs that measure 11 brings to Oregon for them to even care. Have you written our congressmen? I have. I hope all of you will.
I know that the public school recieve more than double the amount of state funding for each student they have who is disabled or on an IEP. I wonder if the jails and prisons also recieve more funding for these folks? does anybody here know?
Kiah- This could be true, since they are now trying to commercialize and privatize prison systems. If you look further into it, you may find it to be true.
My son who joined the Air Force once out of High School. Who scrabled for this country on 911 and deployed for this country 90 days before the war. Severed 9 months, then returned to Bagdad for anoterh 9 months. Now is doing 36 months for the state of Oregon. Because his roomate used Measure 11 against him, because he was unable to purchase a house under his VA loan. The DA office of Multnomah County and the women pressing the Charges felt it was better to send him to prison without treatment and cut him off from his federal rights to get help. This is unfair to him having to deal with PTSD in priosn and all on his own. This law will place more and more of our heros in prison all on one person word.
I really feel for you Traci. This is what I am talking about–Measure 11 does not taske into account the circumstances -such as mental health issues and disabilities. It is torture-human torture. The person going to prison suffers way more than anyone- ESPECIALLY KEVIN MANNIX will ever know. His laws have screwed Oregonians over really bad. aPEOPLE OF OREGON- please, I beg of you, to learn from the past and VOTE NO on Measure 61. Kevin Mannix’s laws are comparable to torture and child abuse. The WHOLE FAMILY suffers but the vulnerable population that serves these sentences suffer so much more. I can’t imagine anyone feeling any more pain than what Measure 11 has caused, but if Measure 61 is voted in, it’s going to get worse. This guy is off his rocker. As I previously stated, anyone who would write a law that puts a developmentally disabled & emotionally challenged child in prison for so many years is a child abuser-and if he is a child abuser then where will this guy stop? He won’t unless the citizens stop him.
I was talking to a friend and he told me of this person he knew, a black male, who had borrowed the jacket of another person, also a black male. It sems the real owner of the jacket had previously been involved in a robbery. The person who was robbed was able to identify the suspect by his jacket and his skin color. The man who had borrowed the jacket went to prison on Measure 11 charges for Robbery. The system did not take into account the man’s circumstances -the man who was wrongly accused and charged with Measure 11 Robbery–because he had borrowed someone’s jacket because it was a cold, rainy night. This is where Measure 11 is screwed up- they don’t look into the circumstances and situation or conditions surrounding the incidence of what really occurred. The judge at my son’s hearing made sure that I cannot try to get a second look at my son’s case (posted in a previous post- post # 3). My son is now doing time at Maclaren for 5 yrs & 10 months. This law is messed up and I am going to look at every angle I can to prove that they messed up when they put my son in prison. My son also needs treatment. He has a history of mental health treatment going back to since he was 6 yrs old.Now he won’t get what he needs and the victim-who thought the crime was a joke in the first place, has turned his story into an exaggerrated drama. He did not want to have my son arrested at first but at the sntencing he changed his tune because he was there in the court room and he did not stand up and say anything- he just watched as my son was sentenced to over 5 yrs in prison. I wonder what happened for him to go from thinking it was a joke to making statements and exaggerating the story of what happened that day. I often wonder if the police coerced him because it says in the police reports that the police went to his house to get a statement from him and he did not want to give one. He is quoted as saying (in the police reports) : ” I don’t want anyone to get in trouble.” What happened? Why did he change like that? It’s messed up. He did not get hurt or injured in what happened that day - my son is a victim because he is the one that will suffer for the next 5 years. He may be 16 yrs old chronologically, but not mentally. It hurts when he asks me, “Mom when can I come home?” What do I tell him? He already has PTSD and other developmental issues. Now he has to sit in prison and suffer, while a grown man who didn’t get hurt or harmed or even touched by my son couldn’t stand up and say in court what he told the police about thinking it was a joke and how he didn’t even want to make a statement to begin with. I was disgusted with this man when I saw him show up at the snetencing because to me , it’s like he’s laughing in my child’s face, and making something into something it wasn’t. Measure 11 really sucks and hopefully (but doubtfully) someday, Kevin Mannix will have a taste of his own medicine.This abuse of power has to stop somewhere.
I Have seen it happen all of my life, ” what goes around comes around” God will see to it that these people in charge of these poor choices for our diabled young men find out and feel the recoarse of what they have done. They will experience it first hand in some form, have no fear. Or if your not religious than carma will come to them. But the sad thing is, it wont help our loves ones a bit. They will have already served a life sentece because of their situations, and they will already be damaged for life. They will maybe never see their way out of the system because of the petty pressures put onto them by some probation officers. It is a sad , sad. situation. It is wrong. and yes, it is abuse. Please keep writing our congresmen and polititions. Write to the advocacy center for disabled and human rights as well. That about all that we can do. Oprha may be interested in a story from a batch of folks who are affected by measure 11 as well. Does anyone here have a way to contact her? Barbara Roberts is another good one to contact. She may have a phone number if you google her.
Thank you for the info. I have written congressmen, politicians, everyone I can think of and will continue to do so.I hope others do the same. We need all the help we can get to stop the abuse.
Anyone here who would be willing to share thier stories, concerns or what ever with me please email me. I am getting ready to publish a book soon and would love to add other stories to my families in reguards to measure 11 in it. My publishers can send you permission forms and a query on the book to show you what the book is about. I to am willing to share anything you might want to know about my book efforts. Feel free to email me with any questions or if you might be so inclined to let me use your stories. thanks ahead!