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.

Justice for Youth: When is "Tough on Crime" Too Tough?

play audio
Play

Friday, September 12, 2014   

PORTLAND, Ore. - More than 600 youths are behind bars in Oregon, and nearly half of them were sentenced as adults. On Saturday, their advocates are getting together in Portland for what they're calling a "community awareness and healing event."

The groups want to call attention to what they say is unfair punishment for juveniles under Oregon's mandatory minimum sentencing laws. About 3 percent of juvenile offenders in the state are serving that type of sentence, and Cassandra Villanueva, director of organizing and advocacy for the Partnership for Safety and Justice, said that's too many to lock up without better alternatives to get them on the right path.

"Young people who commit crimes need to be held accountable, but accountable as what they are - children, not adults," she said. "And like all other young people, they need to be given the greatest opportunities to succeed that we can give them."

Proponents of the mandatory minimum laws say they were designed to be tough on crime, but Villanueva said they aren't making communities safer, while branding kids with criminal records that do them more harm than good in adulthood.

The Portland "Justice for Youth" event is part of a national rally in 20 states aimed at keeping children out of the adult criminal-justice system.

Villanueva said Oregon also could be doing a better job funding the social and community services that help prevent crime and support victims of crime. She explained that these types of assistance help break the cycle of crime.

"Research suggests that for youth, being a victim of crime in the previous year was related to committing a violent offense," she said. "And so, we believe that we have to invest in helping people harmed by crime and violence, rebuild their lives."

In Oregon as in most states, she said, the mandatory minimum sentencing laws affect African-American and Latino youth disproportionately.

About 30 organizations are co-sponsors of the "Justice for Youth" event, which will be held from noon to 3 p.m. Saturday at Pioneer Courthouse Square, 701 S.W. Sixth Ave., Portland.

Youth detention statistics for Oregon in 2013 are online at oregon.gov.


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