Measure 11, also known as "One Strike You're Out", was a citizens'
initiative
In political science, an initiative (also known as a popular initiative or citizens' initiative) is a means by which a petition signed by a certain number of registered voters can force a government to choose either to enact a law or hold a pu ...
passed in 1994 in the
U.S. State
In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sover ...
of
Oregon
Oregon () is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of it ...
. This
statutory enactment established
mandatory minimum sentencing
Mandatory sentencing requires that offenders serve a predefined term for certain crimes, commonly serious and violent offenses. Judges are bound by law; these sentences are produced through the legislature, not the judicial system. They are inst ...
for several
crime
In ordinary language, a crime is an unlawful act punishable by a State (polity), state or other authority. The term ''crime'' does not, in modern criminal law, have any simple and universally accepted definition,Farmer, Lindsay: "Crime, definit ...
s. The measure was approved in the November 8, 1994
general election
A general election is a political voting election where generally all or most members of a given political body are chosen. These are usually held for a nation, state, or territory's primary legislative body, and are different from by-elections ( ...
with 788,695 votes in favor, and 412,816 votes against.
The sentencing judge cannot give a lesser sentence than that prescribed by Measure 11, nor can a prisoner's sentence be reduced for good behavior. Prisoners cannot be paroled prior to serving their minimum sentence.
[Taylor, Bill]
Background brief on Measure 11
, Legislative Committee Services. May, 2004. Accessed on January 2, 2008.
The measure applies to all defendants aged 15 and over, requiring juveniles 15 and over charged with these crimes to be tried as adults.
[
The measure was placed on the ballot via ]initiative petition
In political science, an initiative (also known as a popular initiative or citizens' initiative) is a means by which a petition signed by a certain number of registered voters can force a government to choose either to enact a law or hold a pu ...
by Crime Victims United
In ordinary language, a crime is an unlawful act punishable by a state or other authority. The term ''crime'' does not, in modern criminal law, have any simple and universally accepted definition,Farmer, Lindsay: "Crime, definitions of", in Can ...
, a tough-on-crime
In modern politics, law and order is the approach focusing on harsher enforcement and penalties as ways to reduce crime. Penalties for perpetrators of disorder may include longer terms of imprisonment, mandatory sentencing, three-strikes laws a ...
political group. Then-State Representative
A state legislature is a legislative branch or body of a political subdivision in a federal system.
Two federations literally use the term "state legislature":
* The legislative branches of each of the fifty state governments of the United Sta ...
Kevin Mannix
Kevin Leese Mannix (born November 26, 1949) is an American politician, business attorney, and former chairman of the Republican Party in the U.S. state of Oregon.
Mannix has served in both houses of the Oregon Legislative Assembly, as a Demo ...
, who sponsored the measure, has since argued that violent criminals cannot be reformed through probation or short prison sentences, and that the time they are kept incarcerated is itself a benefit to society.
Ballot Measure 10, also passed in 1994, permitted the Oregon Legislative Assembly
The Oregon Legislative Assembly is the state legislature for the U.S. state of Oregon. The Legislative Assembly is bicameral, consisting of an upper and lower house: the Senate, whose 30 members are elected to serve four-year terms; and the Ho ...
to change Measure 11, but only with a 2/3 vote in each chamber. The legislature has done so several times.
Legislative Attempts to Alter or Repeal Measure 11:
*House Bill 3439 passed June 1995: Added Attempted Murder and Attempted Aggravated Murder.
*Senate Bill 1049 passed July 1997: Added Arson I (when a serious physical threat is involved), Compelling Prostitution, and Use of Child in Display of Sex Act. This also allowed for departures from the mandatory minimum sentencing for some Assault II, Kidnapping II, and Robbery II convictions.
*House Bill 2494 passed August 1999: Allowed for departures from the mandatory minimum sentence for some Manslaughter II convictions committed after October 23, 1999.
*Measure 94 defeated November 2000: Attempt to repeal mandatory minimum sentencing in Oregon; defeated 387,068 to 1,073,275. ">4/sup>
*House Bill 2379 passed July 2001: Allowed for departure from the mandatory minimum sentence for some Rape II, Sodomy II, Sexual Penetration II, and Sexual Abuse I convictions after January 1, 2002.
Senate Bill 1008
passed in May 2019 (pending signature from the Governor): The bill is a major overhaul of many Measure 11 stipulations. Key parts of the bill seek to address the impacts of Measure 11 on youth reported by the Oregon Justice Resource Center, such as:
**"Second Look" hearings for any juvenile convicted in adult court after completion of half their sentence. Judges are to consider factors such as remorse and rehabilitation, and may reduce the remainder of the juvenile's sentence to community-based supervision.
**Prohibiting life without parole
Life imprisonment is any sentence of imprisonment for a crime under which convicted people are to remain in prison for the rest of their natural lives or indefinitely until pardoned, paroled, or otherwise commuted to a fixed term. Crimes for ...
for minors.
**Ensuring minors of 15 years or older are not automatically tried as adults for major crimes.
Proponents of Measure 11 argued that judge
A judge is a person who presides over court proceedings, either alone or as a part of a panel of judges. A judge hears all the witnesses and any other evidence presented by the barristers or solicitors of the case, assesses the credibility an ...
s had been too lenient in sentencing violent offenders. They saw the measure as critical for lowering crime rates.
Opponents of Measure 11 argued that judges should be allowed discretion in sentencing and should be able to account for the particular circumstances of a given crime. They also objected to the requirement that many youth defendants be tried as adults.
Oregon's prison population increased after Measure 11, and as of 2004, 41% of the growth was attributed to the direct or indirect impact of Measure 11. Crime rates in Oregon decreased between 1994 and 2000, but increased in 2001; opponents of Measure 11 noted that the trend mirrored national trends, while acknowledging that some likely re-offenders were imprisoned as a result of the law.[
The effectiveness of Measure 11 to deter crime is further questioned when compared to research about mandatory minimums. Research has repeatedly disproven mandatory minimums as public safety tools. For example, a 1993 meta-analysis report compiled from 50 different studies found mandatory minimums’ lengthier prison sentences produced higher rates of recidivism and a tendency for lower-risk offenders to experience more negative outcomes.]
Background and context
Prior to 1989, Oregon judges would decide whether a convicted felon should be put on probation or sent to prison, and for those sent to prison, set a maximum sentence (known as an "indeterminate sentence.")[Taylor, Bill]
Background brief on felony sentencing
. May, 2004. Accessed on January 2, 2008. Based on a subsequent decision by the Parole Board, which used an assessment of good behavior, rehabilitative efforts, and criminal case, the average offender would serve a fraction of the sentence handed down by the judge.[
The ]Oregon Legislative Assembly
The Oregon Legislative Assembly is the state legislature for the U.S. state of Oregon. The Legislative Assembly is bicameral, consisting of an upper and lower house: the Senate, whose 30 members are elected to serve four-year terms; and the Ho ...
established felony sentencing guidelines in 1989, in an attempt to achieve the following four goals:[
* Proportional punishment, imposing the most severe sentences on the most serious offenders
* Truth in sentencing, so the judge's sentence would more closely reflect actual prison time
* Sentence uniformity, to reduce disparities among judges
* Maintenance of correctional capacity consistent with sentencing policy, so the criminal justice system would be able to deliver proposed penalties.
Parole release for most offenders was abolished by the establishment of these guidelines. The Board of Parole and Post-Prison Supervision continues to have release authority over those prison inmates sentenced for crimes committed prior to November 1, 1989, those sentenced by the courts as dangerous offenders, and for murderers and aggravated murderers who are eligible for parole, regardless of the date of their crimes. Other prisoners began serving at least 80% of their sentences.][
Measure 11, passed in 1994, affected only specific crimes, which were covered by the sentencing guidelines from 1989 to 1994.][
Various exceptions exist to the guidelines, and to Measure 11 restrictions on sentencing.][
]
Impact on Youth
In February 2018, Oregon Council on Civil Rights, in collaboration with the Oregon Justice Resource Center, released a report on the impact of Measure 11 on Oregon's young people and whether the law is out-of-step with legal and scientific developments of recent years.[ ]
According to the report, Measure 11 mandates that juveniles hold the same culpability
In criminal law, culpability, or being culpable, is a measure of the degree to which an agent, such as a person, can be held morally or legally responsible for action and inaction. It has been noted that the word, culpability, "ordinarily has ...
as adults, despite brain science declaring otherwise. The US Supreme Court
The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point of ...
has ruled several times in regards to the sentencing of minor:
* Roper v. Simmons, which ruled that juveniles cannot be sentenced to death.
* Graham v. Florida
''Graham v. Florida'', 560 U.S. 48 (2010), was a decision by the Supreme Court of the United States holding that juvenile offenders cannot be sentenced to life imprisonment without parole for non-homicide offenses.
In June 2012, in the related ...
, which ruled that juvenile life without parole is unconstitutional for non-homicide juvenile offenders.
* Miller v. Alabama
''Miller v. Alabama'', 567 U.S. 460 (2012), was a United States Supreme Court case in which the Court held that ''mandatory'' sentences of life without the possibility of parole are unconstitutional for juvenile offenders. The ruling applied even ...
, which ruled that mandatory juvenile life without parole is unconstitutional for all crimes.
* Montgomery v. Louisiana
''Montgomery v. Louisiana'', 577 U.S. ___ (2016), was a Supreme Court of the United States, United States Supreme Court case in which the Court held that its previous ruling in ''Miller v. Alabama'' (2012), that a mandatory life sentence without p ...
, which confirms that the miller ruling now be applied retroactively.
* Key conceptual takeaways from the supreme court decisions:
** Youth have a unique capacity for reform.
** Youth are fundamentally different from, and less culpable than, adults
** All youth should have a reasonable opportunity to demonstrate their ability to change.
** Lengthy sentences that fail to take into consideration the mitigating qualities of youth are in violation of their Eighth Amendment rights.
** Youth should have access to a “meaningful opportunity for release.
Some key statistics:
* Today, Oregon incarcerates young people at a higher rate than almost every other state in the country, including Texas and Louisiana. In fact, Oregon has the second highest rate of youth transfers to adult court in the nation, with young people - especially youth of color - subjected to lifelong consequences as a result.
* In 2012, Oregon convicted black youth of Measure 11 offenses at 17 times the rate of their white counterparts.
* Black youth account for 15.5% of Measure 11 indictments but only 1.8% of the general population in Oregon (resulting in an overrepresentation of around 8.6 times.)
* The average relative rate of disparity (measure by the relative rate index or RRI2 ) between black and white youth for the five most common Measure 11 crimes is 15.26. The overall RRI for all crimes covered in this study was 13.6.
* Oregon taxpayers bear a significant burden for youth incarceration. Measure 11 offenders require close custody, the most expensive form of state confinement, which can result in costs of as much as $263 per day and $95,995 per year, per juvenile.
Impact on Women
In October 2018, the annua
Women in Prison Conference
held by the Oregon Justice Resource Center Women's Justice Project focused primarily on the effects of mandatory minimum sentences imposed by Measure 11 on female defendants.["Women in Prison Conference 2018: Women and Measure 11" ''Oregon Justice Resource Cente]
' The conference highlights similar concerns and statistics echoed by Measure 11's original opponents in concerns to youth, including:
* Oregon's incarceration rate for women has tripled since 1994 when Measure 11 when was first passed
* Many convicted females had mitigating circumstances at the times of their cases, which are barred from consideration during sentencing under Measure 11's mandatory minimums
The first season of the American political drama television series ''The West Wing'' aired in the United States on NBC from September 22, 1999 to May 17, 2000 and consisted of 22 episodes.
Cast
Main cast
* Rob Lowe as Sam Seaborn, Deputy Wh ...
. Coffee Creek Correctional Facility reported 2015 that 46% of their intakes that year experienced domestic violence; 76% were unemployed; over half had children; and 38% had not finished high school.
Political Impact
The passage of Measure 11 was a central issue of Governor John Kitzhaber
John Albert Kitzhaber (born March 5, 1947) is an American former politician who served as the 35th governor of Oregon from 1995 to 2003, and as the 37th governor of Oregon from 2011 until his resignation in 2015. A member of the Democratic Party ...
's first term, and remains a matter of controversy in Oregon politics. Supporters credit Measure 11 for reducing crime rates. ">2/sup> Opponents argue Measure 11 pressures innocent defendants into plea bargains for lesser (non-Measure 11) crimes, due to fear of mandatory sentences. ">3/sup>
See also
* Oregon Ballot Measure 40 (1996) and subsequent measures
Ballot Measure 40 was an Oregon ballot measure in 1996. The measure brought sweeping reforms to Oregon's justice system, generally in an effort to promote victims' rights.
Measure 40 passed with 58.8% of the vote, but was overturned by the Oregon ...
* List of Oregon ballot measures
The list of Oregon ballot measures lists all statewide ballot measures to the present.
In Oregon, the initiative and referendum process dates back to 1902, when the efforts of the Direct Legislation League prompted amending the Oregon Constitut ...
* Oregon Criminal Justice Commission
The Oregon Criminal Justice Commission (CJC) is a nine-member volunteer commission in the U.S. state of Oregon. It was established in 1995, charged with providing a "centralized and impartial forum for statewide policy development and planning" in ...
References
External links
Chief Petitioner Kevin Mannix
on BallotPedia.org
Overview of Measure 11
from Oregon.gov
FAMM
Families Against Mandatory Minimums
Families Against Mandatory Minimums (FAMM) is an American nonprofit advocacy organization founded in 1991 to challenge mandatory sentencing laws and advocate for criminal justice reform. FAMM promotes sentencing policies that give judges the disc ...
(opponents)
Text of the measure
Multnomah County Measure 11 information for juveniles
The Development of Oregon's Sentencing and Corrections Policy
Oregon Criminal Justice Commission. Accessed January 2, 2008.
Sentencing Practices: Summary Statistics for Felony Offenders Sentenced in 2001
Oregon Criminal Justice Commission, January 2003.
Guest Viewpoint By Doug Harcleroad and Joshua Marquis
Joshua K. Marquis (born 1952) is an attorney and politician from Astoria, Oregon in the United States. He served as District Attorney for Clatsop County from March 1994 until December 31, 2018. He frequently writes and speaks about capital puni ...
for The (Eugene) Register-Guard, October 17, 2005.
* ttp://media.oregonlive.com/pacific-northwest-news/other/Youth%20and%20Measure%2011%20in%20Oregon%20Final%202.pdf Youth and Measure 11 in Oregon Oregon Justice Resource Center, February 2018
{{Oregon legislation
1994 Oregon ballot measures
Penal system in Oregon
Initiatives in the United States