Oregon Senate passes series of reforms to juvenile sentencing

Without the gift of a second chance early in his life, Senate President Peter Courtney, D-Salem, is sure his story would have turned out differently.

"I had a temper," Courtney said on the Senate floor Tuesday. "When I was young, there's no denying it, I was involved with some things — had there been a Ballot Measure 11 I would be incarcerated. Violent fist fights, and it was really very bad."

But he got a break, he said, from nuns who refused to give up on him.

He asked the Senate to give Oregon's juvenile offenders the opportunity for a second chance and vote for Senate Bill 1008, which would substantively change the juvenile aspects of Oregon's Measure 11. 

As one of the most active proponents for criminal justice reform in the Oregon Legislature, Sen. Jackie Winters, R-Salem, spoke on the floor about the lessons she learned from her late husband, Marc “Ted” Winters.

Ted Winters entered the corrections system at 17 years old.

"He would tell you that the Department of Corrections was no place for a juvenile," Jackie Winters said. 

Winters said the state needs to provide the opportunity for individuals to reform and become contributing members of society, like her husband did.

'These aren't outlandish reforms'

On a vote of 20-10, the Senate passed SB 1008 Tuesday. It is the distillation of several bills from earlier this session dealing with juvenile sentencing.

The most significant proposals include: removing the requirement that 15-, 16- and 17-year-olds be charged as adults for certain crimes; establishing the process for "second look" hearings half-way through a sentence being served by a juvenile convicted in adult court; banning life sentences without the possibility of parole for juvenile offenders; and allowing hearings to determine if people in Oregon Youth Authority custody should be turned over to adult prisons when they reach 27.

"These aren't outlandish reforms," said Sen. Dennis Linthicum, R-Klamath Falls, who voted for the bill. "These are very modest. This allows prudence and judgement."

A work group met throughout 2018 to develop these reform proposals, but there were still concerns among Senate Republicans.

Sen. Alan Olsen, R-Canby, had two concerns: that the Senate was amending the will of Oregon's voters, who implemented these policies through a ballot measure, and that the victims of these violent crimes are not being afforded a second chance.

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The crimes included in Measure 11 sentencing requirements include murder, attempted murder, rape, sodomy, kidnapping and assault. 

The bill needed 20 votes to pass, and received exactly that. Now it goes to the House, where another 2/3 majority vote will be needed to send the bill to the governor's desk.

SB 1008 was propelled by both of Salem's senators — Courtney and Winters — as well as Sen. Floyd Prozanski, D-Eugene. But the deciding vote came from Sen. Dallas Heard, R-Roseburg, who gave a silent thumbs up after the senate president had cast his customary final vote.

After Heard's vote, Democratic senators, including members of the progressive wing, came over to thank him. A line of senators quickly formed in front of Winters to congratulate her.

Three Republicans voted in favor of the bill and one Democrat — Sen. Betsy Johnson of Scappoose — voted against. 

Measure 11, which established mandatory minimums for a number of crimes, has only been amended a handful of times since its passage in 1994, in part because a 2/3 majority vote in the Legislature is so difficult to secure. 

"We don't talk about Measure 11 a lot because it's scary," Courtney said.

Contact Connor Radnovich at cradnovich@statesmanjournal.com or 503-399-6864, or follow him on Twitter at @CDRadnovich