skip to main content
skip to newscasts

Friday, March 29, 2024

Public News Service Logo
facebook instagram linkedin reddit youtube twitter
view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

The latest on the Key Bridge collapse, New York puts forth legislation to get clean energy projects on the grid and Wisconsin and other states join a federal summer food program to help feed kids across the country.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Republicans float conspiracy theories on the collapse of Baltimore's Key Bridge, South Carolina's congressional elections will use a map ruled unconstitutional, and the Senate schedules an impeachment trial for Homeland Secretary Mayorkas.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

New Year, New Approach to Public Safety for OR?

play audio
Play

Thursday, December 8, 2011   

PORTLAND, Ore. - The year isn't quite over, but it's looking like another record-breaker for domestic violence shelters in Oregon, with about 50 percent more requests for help than the system can accommodate. It also indicates a public safety system that's out of balance, according to some - including Rebecca Nickels, executive director of the Portland Women's Crisis Line.

Nickels thinks more money should be spent on crime prevention and intervention, and less on locking people up.

"It certainly isn't a matter of not wanting people to be in jail when they're supposed to be, but it's really a matter of looking at the whole system and trying to be the best stewards of those dollars as possible."

A seven-member Governor's Commission on Public Safety was appointed in July to make specific recommendations for a system that is "more efficient, smart and fair," to quote the governor's office. The Commission's report is due next week.

David Rogers, executive director of the Partnership for Safety and Justice (PSJ), says 70 percent of Oregon's public safety budget is spent on corrections - even as a growing amount of research indicates there are effective and lower-cost alternatives to putting people in prison. His organization outlines some of the new strategies in a report released today. It explains a different approach, known as Justice Reinvestment, he says.

"We can save significant monies - hundreds of millions of dollars - and actually reinvest that into smarter approaches to public safety, like crime prevention, addiction treatment, police and also victim services."

In some cases, Oregon's current sentencing laws are 20 years out of date, Rogers says, adding that they are mostly the result of ballot measures over the years to emphasize a "tough on crime" stance.

The report, "Moving Beyond Sides," can be viewed online on the PSJ website, www.safetyandjustice.org.



get more stories like this via email

more stories
The U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments this week about the popular abortion pill Mifepristone and will weigh in on whether the U.S. Food and Drug Administration was correct in how it can be dosed and prescribed. (Ascannio/Adobe Stock)

Health and Wellness

play sound

Missouri residents are worried about future access to birth control. The latest survey from The Right Time, an initiative based in Missouri…


Social Issues

play sound

Wisconsin children from low-income families are now on track to get nutritious foods over the summer. Federal officials have approved the Badger …

Social Issues

play sound

Almost 2,900 people are unsheltered on any given night in the Beehive State. Gov. Spencer Cox is celebrating signing nine bills he says are geared …


The U.S. teaching workforce remains primarily white while the percentage of Black teachers has declined. However, the percentage of Asian and Latinx teachers is rising.(WavebreakMediaMicro/Adobestock)

Social Issues

play sound

Education advocates are calling on lawmakers to increase funding for programs to combat the teacher shortage. Around 37% of schools nationwide …

Environment

play sound

New York's Legislature is considering a bill to get clean-energy projects connected to the grid faster. It's called the RAPID Act, for "Renewable …

Social Issues

play sound

Earlier this month, a new Arizona Public Service rate hike went into effect and one senior advocacy group said those on a fixed income may struggle …

Social Issues

play sound

Michigan recently implemented a significant juvenile justice reform package following recommendations from a task force made up of prosecutors…

 

Phone: 303.448.9105 Toll Free: 888.891.9416 Fax: 208.247.1830 Your trusted member- and audience-supported news source since 1996 Copyright © 2021