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Measure 94 Voters Pamphlet Misstatements CRIME VICTIMS UNITED |
The voter's pamphlet contains 47 arguments on Measure 94 - 15 in favor, and 32 against.
Most of the pro-94 arguments contain misstatements ranging from major inaccuracies or blatant misrepresentations. The following is an analysis.
The full text of the pro-94 arguments can be found at the Oregon Elections Division web page.
Misstatement: "Over 56% [of Measure 11 convicts] are first-time offenders, many are nonviolent crimes."
Truth: As demonstrated by a Multnomah County study, the majority of Measure 11 offenders are repeat offenders, with one or more significant prior convictions. Among those with no prior convictions are many who have committed prior crimes. A child-molester who molests a child, or many children, over a period of years is considered a "first-time offender" the first time he gets caught.
Frank James Milligan, who was arrested for slashing the throat of the Dallas, OR boy, would be treated under Measure 94 as a "first-time offender", even though he was convicted of a prior molestation days after the throat-slashing.
Scott Dean Harberts, who was convicted of beating, sodomizing and murdering a 2-year-old girl in 1989, would be treated as a "first-time offender" under Measure 94 for sexual attacks he is accused of committing before the murder, because his murder conviction was overturned by the Oregon Supreme Court on grounds that have nothing to do with innocence.
Misstatement: "A judge cannot consider any circumstances during sentencing."
Truth: In cases of Robbery II, Assault II, and Kidnapping II, the judge can consider the circumstances, and in some cases drop out of Measure 11 sentencing altogether.
Misstatement: "Oregon's crime rate remained constant between 1980 and 1995 according to the F.B.I."
Truth: The Measure 94 sentencing system was in effect from November of 1989 through March of 1995, not since 1980. The number of crimes against people in Oregon rose every year from 1989 through 1994. Measure 11 took effect in 1995. Since then, the number of crimes against people has fallen every year.
Misstatement: "A $1 Billion prison-building project is currently underway."
Truth: The 1994 voter's pamphlet said that Measure 11 would cost the voters $461.8 million over five years to house 6,085 additional prisoners. Five years later, the actual number of additional prisoners attributed to Measure 11 is 2571, of whom only 1710 were convicted of Measure 11 offenses (Source: The Office of Economic Assessment).
Measure 11 expenditures have been about one-quarter of the original prediction. The state has opened one new prison in the last 10 years.
Misstatement: "For the first time in Oregon's history, more is spent on prisons than schools."
Truth: Education constitutes 57 percent of the state budget. The entire budget for the Department of Corrections constitutes 7.2 percent. (Source: Oregon State Legislative Fiscal Office). Measure 11 constitutes less than 1 percent.
Misstatement: "Health care is almost non-existent."
Truth: Prisoners have better health care than many hard-working, law-abiding Oregonians. When 18-year-old cystic fibrosis patient Brandy Stroeder was denied coverage for a transplant by the Oregon Health Plan, an inmate from the state penitentiary was approved.
Misstatement: "Four teenage girls under Measure 11 committed suicide in 1998."
Truth: Zero girls under Measure 11 committed suicide in 1998 or any year. Also zero boys. This statement is flat-out false. (Source: Oregon Youth Authority)
Misstatement: "Assault II = fistfight even for self-defense!"
Truth: Self-defense is always a legal defense. See Oregon Revised Statutes 161.209. A fistfight is not an Assault II unless it is really an attack that results in significant injury.
Misstatement: "Kidnapping II = forcing a person to the other side of the room!"
Truth: No one has been sentenced under Measure 11 for forcing a person to the other side of the room.
Misstatement: "Once passed, the 1995 and 1997 Legislature changed the law drastically."
Truth: The Legislature added some crimes (e.g., compelling prostitution, attempted aggravated murder) to Measure 11. But the biggest change was Senate Bill 1049 which allowed a judge to drop below Measure 11 sentencing in certain Robbery II, Assault II and Kidnapping II cases.
Misstatement: "Mandatory sentences now apply to those who are simply in the presence of someone who commits a violent act."
Truth: No one has been sentenced under Measure 11, or under any other law, for simply being in the presence of someone who committed a violent act.
Misstatement: "A recent Oregonian article (Feb. 24, 2000) reported that most youths serving time under Mandatory sentences do so in isolation, to keep them separated from the hardened adult criminal populations.
Truth: There are no youth serving time in isolation and the referenced article says nothing of the kind.
Misstatement: "My son Aaron is in prison for 7-and-a-half years because a car he loaned to an acquaintance was used in a robbery. Aaron wasn't even there when the crime was committed."
Truth: In a 12-0 vote, a Washington County jury found beyond a reasonable doubt that Aaron Weight was the driver in the gunpoint robbery of two girls who were made to disrobe and thought they were going to be shot during the robbery.
Misstatement: "By electing judges, the voters put great trust in our ability to fashion a sentence which will punish, rehabilitate when possible, and, most of all protect the public."
Truth: Most judges run for office unopposed. Candidates for judge do not divulge their positions on criminal justice issues. Measure 94 does not give judges the ability to fashion a sentence - in many cases, it requires judges to give lenient sentences. And judges' records of protecting the public is stained with the blood of innocent victims.
Misstatement: "These guidelines [the Measure 94 sentencing system] still gave judges the right to set the length of incarceration depending on the circumstances of the crime and the defendant's age."
Truth: In most cases, the Measure 94 guidelines limit sentences to a very narrow range. For a murderer with no prior serious convictions, in most cases, the range starts at 10 years and ends at 10 years and one month. Under Measure 94's 20% discount for "good time", 10 years means 8 years.
And the guidelines say nothing about the defendant's age.
Misstatement: "Under mandatory sentences, the length of prison term is engraved in stone, no matter the age of the defendant or whether the defendant stands a good chance of being rehabilitated."
Truth: In most cases, Measure 94 limits sentences to a very narrow range. For a murderer with no prior serious convictions, in most cases, the range starts at 10 years and ends at 10 years and one month. Under Measure 94's 20% discount for "good time", 10 years means 8 years.
Misstatement: "Our prison system has exploded, costing us millions and millions of dollars to build prisons for first-time offenders, no matter the circumstances of their case."
Truth: We have built one new prison in the last 10 years. The growth of the prison population is far less than predicted because crime is way down. And most Measure 11 offenders are not "first-time offenders".
Misstatement: "But when 67% of the people convicted under the current harsh sentencing laws are first-time offenders, then we have taken fairness and balance out of the courts."
Truth: In a random sample of Measure 11 offenders in Multnomah County, 84 percent had serious prior offenses. Of the 8 criminals without prior convictions, two of them were engaged in child-molestation over a long period of time. In another case, one victim died and others were injured. In another case, a 13-year-old girl was abducted at gunpoint, raped and sodomized.
Misstatement: "Measure 94 would allow judges to determine the length of sentences."
Truth: In most cases, Measure 94 limits sentences to a very narrow range. For a murderer with no prior serious convictions, in most cases, the range of sentences available to the judge starts at 10 years and ends at 10 years and one month. Under Measure 94's 20% discount for "good time", 10 years means 8 years.
Misstatement: "No one believes that young, first-time offenders should serve the same sentences as career criminals."
Truth: The criminal in question, Justin Thorp, described himself in court as a "gangster". The Oregon Court of Appeals said his juvenile record was deplorable. At age 14, he led police on a 100 mph car chase. When the judge released him pending trial on Rape II charges, and ordered him to stay away from the young girl in question, instead Justin Thorp moved into her bedroom. The judge put him back in jail temporarily. When released, Justin Thorp robbed another youth at knifepoint. Justin Thorp was much closer to a career criminal than a first-time offender.
Misstatement: "We, the voters of Oregon, were misled into allowing this power shift when we voted for mandatory sentences for all people age 15 and up in 1994."
Truth: The voters knew exactly what they were doing. The were sick of violent crime and were sick of juveniles receiving a slap on the wrist for brutal, violent crimes.
Misstatement: "Since 1994 the legislature has drastically changed what we passed."
Truth: The Legislature added some crimes (e.g., compelling prostitution, attempted aggravated murder) to Measure 11. But the biggest change was Senate Bill 1049 which allowed a judge to drop below Measure 11 sentencing in certain Robbery II, Assault II and Kidnapping II cases.
Misstatement: "These guidelines made it necessary for all branches of our judicial system to share in the power of sentencing, with the final decision resting with the people we elect to make those decisions - judges."
Truth: In most cases, Measure 94 limits sentences to a very narrow range. For a murderer with no prior serious convictions, in most cases, the range of sentences available to the judge starts at 10 years and ends at 10 years and one month. Under Measure 94's 20% discount for "good time", 10 years means 8 years.
Misstatement: "We were promised only violent offenders would fall under this law, but the majority are non-violent offenders have had their lives and their loved one's lives destroyed."
Truth: The main Measure 11 crimes are: robbery, usually armed, assaults that result in significant or serious injury, kidnapping, sexual abuse, rape, manslaughter, attempted murder, and murder.
In the case of Ms. Cain's sons, the crime was murder.
Misstatement: "We were promised rehabilitation and treatment programs weren't needed with this law as they were a useless waste of time and money, when years of research has proven just the opposite to be true."
Truth: Measure 11 proponents have never said that rehabilitation and treatment programs weren't needed. Oregon has a model system of rehabilitation and treatment programs for youth offenders and it has been enhanced since Measure 11 passed.
Misstatement: "We were warned that the immense cost of implementing this measure would grow annually, thereby dwindling the tax dollars left available for education and health care."
Truth: The cost of Measure 11 is approximately one-quarter of the original prediction and continues to fall farther below the original prediction because we now have a criminal justice system that criminals take seriously.
Misstatement: "I am certain DiIulio [a noted criminologist] would take issue with Oregon's current sentencing, where young first-time offenders are sentenced for minor offenses to five years and 10 months to the brutality of prison rape and violence that, despite the best efforts of dedicated corrections personnel, still occur in our adult prisons."
Truth: The main Measure 11 crimes are: robbery, usually armed, assaults that result in significant or serious injury, kidnapping, sexual abuse, rape, manslaughter, attempted murder, and murder. Which of these is a minor offense?
And youth are not sent to adult prison but rather to the Oregon Youth Authority, where they receive education, treatment and counseling. They can stay there until age 25 unless they become assaultive, disruptive, or reach age 18 and insist on being transferred.
Misstatement: "One thing criminologists know for certain is that people tend to grow out of their antisocial behavior, so incapacitating the violent offenders through incarceration for long periods is sound public policy. Under Measure 94, this incarcerating the violent will not change."
Truth: When the Measure 94 sentencing system was in effect, from November, 1989 through March, 1995, 35.6 percent of adult murderers (47 of 132) received prison terms of 10 years or less. (Analysis based on DOC data.)
Misstatement: "When we impose mandatory sentences on first-time juvenile offenders and lock them up with adults, we end up producing hardened criminals when they come out of prison."
Truth: Youth are not sent to adult prison but rather to the Oregon Youth Authority, where they receive education, treatment and counseling. They can stay there until age 25 unless they become assaultive, disruptive, or reach age 18 and insist on being transferred.
Click here for other misrepresentations.