TRANSFORMING JUSTICE | Addressing crime requires innovative solutions and new investment
Violent crime rates are up. All of us have seen it in the news, and some of us have seen it in our lives. Pundits and policymakers are jumping to conclusions about how to end the rising crime rates. But because there’s no sole cause of violence, there isn’t a single solution.
This column is the second in a series on addressing Oregon’s increase in violent crime. In our first (“Narrative of reduced police funds causing gun violence is misleading”), we debunk the myth that the increase in violent crime is linked to changes in police funding. It’s not.
Here’s what is true: Crime has many drivers, and therefore many solutions. As advocates of true public safety, it is our job to develop and fund effective solutions that are in line with our values.
We want a system that prevents violence and supports crime survivors’ healing, disrupts racial disparities and holds people accountable for harm without harsh prison sentences. We want community investments that reach the people and families who are most harmed and least helped by the public safety system.
And we have a legacy of sticking to our values with success. A year ago, Oregon voters chose healing when we decriminalized drug possession and funded addiction treatment. Four years ago, our lawmakers voted to keep families together when they prevented the opening of a second women’s prison and instead directed resources toward programs that promote health and safety. Eight years ago, the Oregon legislature chose to curb mass incarceration by reducing prison sentences and investing in resources like housing and crime survivor services.
These are big wins, but there is much more to do, and we can start immediately by investing in small programs that we already know are effective.
Expand street response programs
Law enforcement and community members agree: Police are generally not the best responders for people experiencing homelessness, acute mental illness, substance abuse crisis, or all three. In those moments, people need help from professionals with behavioral health crisis intervention training and resources.
Fewer law enforcement officers mean fewer arrests, which would alleviate unnecessary strain on jail capacity. It also eliminates the trauma of being incarcerated and the trauma to children of seeing a parent arrested. And fewer arrests reduce the incidents of people losing their jobs, homes, and belongings, especially among people experiencing homelessness.
Both CAHOOTS and Portland Street Response have been studied and show promising results as a critical step forward in transforming our public safety system. Those programs allow people in our communities to get the help they actually need, and the approach enables police to focus their time responding to violent crime where they are more relevantly needed.
Expand Healing Hurt People
Healing Hurt People is a trauma-informed, hospital-based service that helps people who have been victims of gun violence and other serious crime. With programs in Portland, Chicago and Philadelphia, responders are trained professionals from the community who go to hospital bedsides and address the trauma caused by the most recent violence, as well as any other barriers that people may have to accessing health, safety and recovery.
Too often, Black and brown survivors of violence, particularly gun violence, are treated more like criminals than victims. People report being questioned by law enforcement in a way that makes them feel accused rather than be given the resources to heal and recover like the gunshot victims that they are.
Healing Hurt People can prevent future violence, too. When people get the help they need to overcome trauma, they are less likely to be involved in incidents of violence in the future. This proven program has been vital for crime victims in Portland, and it should be expanded so that more survivors can get the help they deserve.
Fund restorative justice programs
Restorative justice programs bring together the person who caused harm, the person responsible for harm, and community members to develop responses that include accountability and healing. Earlier this year, the state legislature allocated $4 million for Restorative justice programs to address crimes of violence.
Common Justice in New York City is perhaps the country’s most robust restorative justice program. There, crime survivors are more likely to choose restorative justice over a traditional system response, and the vast majority report being more satisfied with those processes than with standard court proceedings.
Restorative justice programs also deliver more holistic support to crime victims. Survivors need certain things to heal, and the punishment-only approach to our current system fails crime victims. By shifting to an accountability model of justice, the programs can offer a broader range of support to victims. Not only that, but the program enables the person who caused harm to address the underlying causes of crime and recidivism.
Given the success of such programs, local Oregon governments should follow the state’s lead and make their own investments in alternative systems so that survivors have a choice in how their harm is responded to.
Invest in innovative crime prevention
Groundbreaking approaches to crime prevention are being modeled everywhere, and there are inspiring programs to learn from across the world. A crime prevention program in England, for example, is working with people who have or might cause domestic violence to interrupt those incidents before they happen.
The hotline offers assistance and counseling for people who have or might use violence. Run by an organization that helps survivors of abuse, the hotline is a way to implement violence prevention in the communities they serve.
Starting in 2004, the phone line received an average of 6,000 calls per year, but that number went up 200% during the pandemic. This innovative model shows us that people who are causing harm will reach out for help if it’s offered, so shouldn’t we make that service available for our families and communities?
How can we not afford programs like this?
We spend millions of dollars in policing, jails, prison, parole and probation every year, and still, our systems fall woefully short in building safe communities for all Oregonians, particularly among communities of color.
We must shrink existing ineffective programs and simultaneously invest in strategies that will work better. Yes, that will take an upfront investment, but these are the solutions we need to build strong, healthy people and communities over the long term, and you can’t put a price tag on that.
Shannon Wight is deputy director at Partnership for Safety & Justice, a nonprofit advocating for public safety and justice reform. She has led efforts around many of the leading-edge public safety and criminal justice reforms of the past two decades.
This Transforming Justice column is the final in a two-part series about understanding and responding to an increase in violent crimes.
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