Measure 11 awareness event
Event Description:
"Every young person is an individual except under Measure 11"
In collaboration with students at PNCA (Pacific Northwest College of Arts) and the Director of Organizing and Advocacy for Partnership for Safety and Justice, the Spring 2014 class organized an awareness event in the Portland State Park Blocks with the purpose of sharing the voices and stories of youth in prison at the Donald E. Long Juvenile Detention Facility. Displayed art work and shared stories were collected from a series of workshops introducing literature, and images, providing opportunity for free write assignments, and facilitating responsible conversations around incarceration through a social practical lens.
Two large tents were available for displaying the art work and each student took turns reading the youth stories. Students also created a pamphlet of information and made them available to the community.
Purpose:
(Written by Carmen Denison)
In 1954, during the landmark trial Brown v. the Board of Education, Chief Justice Earl Warren issued the following statement,
In these days, it is doubtful that any child may reasonably be expected to succeed in life if he is denied the opportunities of an education. Such an opportunity, where the state has undertaken to provide it, is a right that must be made available on equal terms.
Today, fifty years after equal access to education was deemed a constitutional right, schools are implementing zero-tolerance policies that treat children as criminals long before a crime is ever committed. Most prevalent at schools in impoverished communities, no-tolerance policies are accompanied by metal detectors, armed guards, and surveillance practices that turn schools into preparatory detention facilities, a phenomenon that has been given the apt and insidious title the “School-to-Prison Pipeline.”
In Oregon, harsh disciplinary positions taken in schools combined with judiciary mandates such as Measure 11 have lead to an overwhelming increase in the arrest and incarceration of the states youth, a problem that reflects national trends in youth incarceration. Measure 11, which passed in 1994, requires that offenders who are convicted of any one of 21 serious crimes be subjected to mandatory minimum sentencing starting at the age of 15 without exception. To put this into perspective, a sophomore in high school can be tried as an adult regardless of their criminal history or the circumstances surrounding the crime they have committed.
On their eighteenth birthday they are placed in an adult facility. These children, many of whom will spend the later part of their childhood and a large part of their adult life in prison, face the reality of felony status when they reenter society. In these cases, the stigma of a felony follows former prisoners, as most businesses now require background checks, eliminating those with criminal histories from the job pool. College is almost out of the question; the US government does not provide financial aid to felons. Furthermore, the outrageous expense of higher education makes it almost impossible for most to better themselves after leaving the prison system. All this makes it exceedingly difficult for former prison inmates to fully integrated back into society and this is reflected in rates of recidivism and homelessness amongst former inmates. According to a study done by the Oregon Youth Authority in 2007, 31 percent of youth felon’s recidivate within 36 months of being released.
On the level of expense to the American public, far more money is poured into the prison system than primary, secondary, and collegiate education combined. Cut backs in public education have subjected teachers and students to over populated and underfunded schools as well as the alienating effects of testing and tracking programs such as No Child Left Behind, which provide a devalued and bankrupt experience of education and penalize those that do not have the resources or support to navigate the innate rigidity of standardized tests.
All of the aforementioned factors have resulted in the disenfranchisement of youth and a predetermined path from the school to the prison for those that society has neglected, primarily the poor, and primarily black and Latino youth. These young people, who are labeled as “at risk,” and targeted as potentially deviant become the victims of what is called the Prison Industrial Complex, a term that describe social disciplining mechanisms such as surveillance, policing, and imprisonment as a means to solve economic, social, and political problems, in service of government or industry, now targets the young.
The reality is that these kids have been neglected until the moment that they commit a crime and the system seems to be counting on their misstep. For example, in a survey of 7,000 incarcerated youth conducted by the Federal Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, 70 percent of those surveyed had experienced extreme trauma at an early age. 67 percent of those surveyed said that they had seen someone killed or severely injured early in life. Another national survey found that 67 percent of male inmates in state and federal prison did not have a high school diploma, and that 70 percent of inmates in California had been in foster care. When you break incarceration numbers down on racial lines it becomes clear that Latinos and Blacks are exponentially more likely than White to be victimized by the School to Prison Pipeline, facing harsher disciplinary measure than white students. Black students are 40 percent more likely to be expelled than white students. 70 percent of in school arrests are referred to Black and Latino students. 61 percent of the prison population is composed of Black and Latino inmates. One in every three Black men will be incarcerated in their lifetime. One in every six Latino men will be incarcerated in their lifetime. To return to youth, on any given day 81,000 children are in juvenile justice residential placement in the United States. So many youth in the system, I ask then, who is responsible for these young people and what is to be done?
Acts of violence, especially those carried out by children, are a sign of a deeply troubled and ailing society. I do not propose that any violence is excusable; on the contrary, I call for an interrogation of violence, which is everywhere encouraged in American society. I ask why it is that our country is the largest jailor in the world, and it’s not making anyone any safer. This question requires that America turn a mirror on itself, as activist Angela Davis succinctly stated, Americans are long overdue for “[a] consideration of the contexts in which violent acts happen. Violent people should be dealt with,” she said, “in the context of the reasons behind the violence and how it is perpetuated. Simply dumping these people in prison only has the tendency to reproduce more violence.” Davis explains that prisons serve as receptacles for people who can no longer find a place in their societies, but never confronts the outside influences that result in mass incarceration. Simply put, the prison problem is much deeper than the acts of an individual and demands a closer look at a social structure that denies access to education, personal betterment, agency, and basic human rights.
Reflections:
"As a mother of 4, I am acutely aware of how unique each young person is and how their development is continually changing over their adolescent years. It troubles me that young people are regarded as such in select ways in our society, yet when it comes to measure 11 crimes, they are regarded as neither young people, nor individuals with a story. Mandatory minimun sentencing for youth means that they are entirely defined by the crime, and the sentencing is determined only by whether or not they are convicted, excluding any important factors that are usually considered in trials. Circumstances should always be considered in examining a crime committed. Measure 11 does not allow this. This is especially troubling when it comes to the futures of young people who have not yet matured to the point of thinking as an adult. We know that the prefrontal cortex of an adolescent's brain (decision making, impulse control, emotional regulation) is not fully developed until mid 20s. Should this not be considered when measuring responsibility? There are certainly other developmental factors considered in other instances, yet a young person's brain development isn't one of them." -Danielle M.
"I'm here to simply give voice to those who we choose, as society, to turn away from and close our hearts to: the young people who have been affected by measure 11. Whether one feels strongly in favor of measure 11, strongly against measure 11, or perhaps even ambivalent about it, we can let ourselves bear witness to the struggles young people face after they have been convicted of a measure 11 crime. What I'd like most is for people to simply hear their stories. The takeaway is whatever you make it." -Em S.
"I am motivated to change many issues surrounding measure 11. I think the underlying motivation is justice. Mandatory minimums are dehumanizing and defy justice on so many levels. When you bring children into the mix, the injustice of it all grows exponentially. We know that our form of "revenge" justice is ineffective and dangerous so why we continue to try to pretend that more of a failing institution is going to have any kind of positive effect?" - Stefanie J.
"I used to think of prisons in terms of punishment. It seemed so logical. If someone had done something wrong, then removing them from society and holding them accountable for their crimes appeared to be a reasonable system of response. It protected communities from dangerous people and behaviors. And, it preserved justice by applying a consequence that matched the offense. But then, nobody in my immediate family or community had ever been to prison. As an adult seeking meaningful work in my life, social justice became a central focus of my pursuits. In thinking about the communities I hoped to serve and the existing infrastructures I could work inside to do so, I began to change. There were things I read about in the research that I’d seen unfolding around me in real life. I began to develop a new vocabulary that helped me identify and give voice to things that interfered with social justice. Some of the most egregious infringements upon human rights that I’ve encountered in recent years have been related to the prison system here in the United States. I’ve learned about the ethical dilemmas that arise when administering justice is put into the hands of for-profit institutions. A criminal justice system with harsher penalties and minimum sentencing doesn’t do anything to restore justice or create better outcomes; it leverages established inequities and further stigmatizes and disenfranchises those who enter its grip." -Melissa L.
"But what about forgiveness? Living in the capitalist individualist ideals born into the United States, we are encouraged to forget community. We must not forget we are complicit in the Prison-Industrial-Complex and the people, the children, we lock away are part of our community." -Sam M.
"Measure 11 seems to do more harm than good in that it takes away flexibility from what dictates the future of the youth that are affected by it. I believe that the judge should have ruling in what occurs depending on the details of the crime. It can literally ruin lives to have one solid rule that could lock up a youth for an unfair amount of time, instead of allowing them that time as a chance to try to improve, etc." -Bahar K.
"Measure 11 for me is an unfair justice system that does not allow people who have committed crimes to be tried for their individual case. I am especially outraged that children are tried as adults and put into adult prisons before they are mentally prepared for such a shock to their system." -Cerene A.
"Every young person is an individual except under Measure 11"
In collaboration with students at PNCA (Pacific Northwest College of Arts) and the Director of Organizing and Advocacy for Partnership for Safety and Justice, the Spring 2014 class organized an awareness event in the Portland State Park Blocks with the purpose of sharing the voices and stories of youth in prison at the Donald E. Long Juvenile Detention Facility. Displayed art work and shared stories were collected from a series of workshops introducing literature, and images, providing opportunity for free write assignments, and facilitating responsible conversations around incarceration through a social practical lens.
Two large tents were available for displaying the art work and each student took turns reading the youth stories. Students also created a pamphlet of information and made them available to the community.
Purpose:
(Written by Carmen Denison)
In 1954, during the landmark trial Brown v. the Board of Education, Chief Justice Earl Warren issued the following statement,
In these days, it is doubtful that any child may reasonably be expected to succeed in life if he is denied the opportunities of an education. Such an opportunity, where the state has undertaken to provide it, is a right that must be made available on equal terms.
Today, fifty years after equal access to education was deemed a constitutional right, schools are implementing zero-tolerance policies that treat children as criminals long before a crime is ever committed. Most prevalent at schools in impoverished communities, no-tolerance policies are accompanied by metal detectors, armed guards, and surveillance practices that turn schools into preparatory detention facilities, a phenomenon that has been given the apt and insidious title the “School-to-Prison Pipeline.”
In Oregon, harsh disciplinary positions taken in schools combined with judiciary mandates such as Measure 11 have lead to an overwhelming increase in the arrest and incarceration of the states youth, a problem that reflects national trends in youth incarceration. Measure 11, which passed in 1994, requires that offenders who are convicted of any one of 21 serious crimes be subjected to mandatory minimum sentencing starting at the age of 15 without exception. To put this into perspective, a sophomore in high school can be tried as an adult regardless of their criminal history or the circumstances surrounding the crime they have committed.
On their eighteenth birthday they are placed in an adult facility. These children, many of whom will spend the later part of their childhood and a large part of their adult life in prison, face the reality of felony status when they reenter society. In these cases, the stigma of a felony follows former prisoners, as most businesses now require background checks, eliminating those with criminal histories from the job pool. College is almost out of the question; the US government does not provide financial aid to felons. Furthermore, the outrageous expense of higher education makes it almost impossible for most to better themselves after leaving the prison system. All this makes it exceedingly difficult for former prison inmates to fully integrated back into society and this is reflected in rates of recidivism and homelessness amongst former inmates. According to a study done by the Oregon Youth Authority in 2007, 31 percent of youth felon’s recidivate within 36 months of being released.
On the level of expense to the American public, far more money is poured into the prison system than primary, secondary, and collegiate education combined. Cut backs in public education have subjected teachers and students to over populated and underfunded schools as well as the alienating effects of testing and tracking programs such as No Child Left Behind, which provide a devalued and bankrupt experience of education and penalize those that do not have the resources or support to navigate the innate rigidity of standardized tests.
All of the aforementioned factors have resulted in the disenfranchisement of youth and a predetermined path from the school to the prison for those that society has neglected, primarily the poor, and primarily black and Latino youth. These young people, who are labeled as “at risk,” and targeted as potentially deviant become the victims of what is called the Prison Industrial Complex, a term that describe social disciplining mechanisms such as surveillance, policing, and imprisonment as a means to solve economic, social, and political problems, in service of government or industry, now targets the young.
The reality is that these kids have been neglected until the moment that they commit a crime and the system seems to be counting on their misstep. For example, in a survey of 7,000 incarcerated youth conducted by the Federal Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, 70 percent of those surveyed had experienced extreme trauma at an early age. 67 percent of those surveyed said that they had seen someone killed or severely injured early in life. Another national survey found that 67 percent of male inmates in state and federal prison did not have a high school diploma, and that 70 percent of inmates in California had been in foster care. When you break incarceration numbers down on racial lines it becomes clear that Latinos and Blacks are exponentially more likely than White to be victimized by the School to Prison Pipeline, facing harsher disciplinary measure than white students. Black students are 40 percent more likely to be expelled than white students. 70 percent of in school arrests are referred to Black and Latino students. 61 percent of the prison population is composed of Black and Latino inmates. One in every three Black men will be incarcerated in their lifetime. One in every six Latino men will be incarcerated in their lifetime. To return to youth, on any given day 81,000 children are in juvenile justice residential placement in the United States. So many youth in the system, I ask then, who is responsible for these young people and what is to be done?
Acts of violence, especially those carried out by children, are a sign of a deeply troubled and ailing society. I do not propose that any violence is excusable; on the contrary, I call for an interrogation of violence, which is everywhere encouraged in American society. I ask why it is that our country is the largest jailor in the world, and it’s not making anyone any safer. This question requires that America turn a mirror on itself, as activist Angela Davis succinctly stated, Americans are long overdue for “[a] consideration of the contexts in which violent acts happen. Violent people should be dealt with,” she said, “in the context of the reasons behind the violence and how it is perpetuated. Simply dumping these people in prison only has the tendency to reproduce more violence.” Davis explains that prisons serve as receptacles for people who can no longer find a place in their societies, but never confronts the outside influences that result in mass incarceration. Simply put, the prison problem is much deeper than the acts of an individual and demands a closer look at a social structure that denies access to education, personal betterment, agency, and basic human rights.
Reflections:
"As a mother of 4, I am acutely aware of how unique each young person is and how their development is continually changing over their adolescent years. It troubles me that young people are regarded as such in select ways in our society, yet when it comes to measure 11 crimes, they are regarded as neither young people, nor individuals with a story. Mandatory minimun sentencing for youth means that they are entirely defined by the crime, and the sentencing is determined only by whether or not they are convicted, excluding any important factors that are usually considered in trials. Circumstances should always be considered in examining a crime committed. Measure 11 does not allow this. This is especially troubling when it comes to the futures of young people who have not yet matured to the point of thinking as an adult. We know that the prefrontal cortex of an adolescent's brain (decision making, impulse control, emotional regulation) is not fully developed until mid 20s. Should this not be considered when measuring responsibility? There are certainly other developmental factors considered in other instances, yet a young person's brain development isn't one of them." -Danielle M.
"I'm here to simply give voice to those who we choose, as society, to turn away from and close our hearts to: the young people who have been affected by measure 11. Whether one feels strongly in favor of measure 11, strongly against measure 11, or perhaps even ambivalent about it, we can let ourselves bear witness to the struggles young people face after they have been convicted of a measure 11 crime. What I'd like most is for people to simply hear their stories. The takeaway is whatever you make it." -Em S.
"I am motivated to change many issues surrounding measure 11. I think the underlying motivation is justice. Mandatory minimums are dehumanizing and defy justice on so many levels. When you bring children into the mix, the injustice of it all grows exponentially. We know that our form of "revenge" justice is ineffective and dangerous so why we continue to try to pretend that more of a failing institution is going to have any kind of positive effect?" - Stefanie J.
"I used to think of prisons in terms of punishment. It seemed so logical. If someone had done something wrong, then removing them from society and holding them accountable for their crimes appeared to be a reasonable system of response. It protected communities from dangerous people and behaviors. And, it preserved justice by applying a consequence that matched the offense. But then, nobody in my immediate family or community had ever been to prison. As an adult seeking meaningful work in my life, social justice became a central focus of my pursuits. In thinking about the communities I hoped to serve and the existing infrastructures I could work inside to do so, I began to change. There were things I read about in the research that I’d seen unfolding around me in real life. I began to develop a new vocabulary that helped me identify and give voice to things that interfered with social justice. Some of the most egregious infringements upon human rights that I’ve encountered in recent years have been related to the prison system here in the United States. I’ve learned about the ethical dilemmas that arise when administering justice is put into the hands of for-profit institutions. A criminal justice system with harsher penalties and minimum sentencing doesn’t do anything to restore justice or create better outcomes; it leverages established inequities and further stigmatizes and disenfranchises those who enter its grip." -Melissa L.
"But what about forgiveness? Living in the capitalist individualist ideals born into the United States, we are encouraged to forget community. We must not forget we are complicit in the Prison-Industrial-Complex and the people, the children, we lock away are part of our community." -Sam M.
"Measure 11 seems to do more harm than good in that it takes away flexibility from what dictates the future of the youth that are affected by it. I believe that the judge should have ruling in what occurs depending on the details of the crime. It can literally ruin lives to have one solid rule that could lock up a youth for an unfair amount of time, instead of allowing them that time as a chance to try to improve, etc." -Bahar K.
"Measure 11 for me is an unfair justice system that does not allow people who have committed crimes to be tried for their individual case. I am especially outraged that children are tried as adults and put into adult prisons before they are mentally prepared for such a shock to their system." -Cerene A.