[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 34 (Monday, March 17, 1997)]
[Senate]
[Page S2341]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                           COMMUNITY JUSTICE

  Mr. WYDEN. Mr. President, my home State of Oregon has long been known 
for being innovative in a variety of important public policy areas. The 
Oregon Health Plan, for example, is a pioneering effort. We were the 
first State to protect our beaches, to go forward with recycling, to 
look at innovative ways to protect our land, air and water, and we are 
clearly out in front in terms of welfare reform, a key issue to our 
citizens at this time.
  Today, I take the floor to talk about how Oregon would like to lead 
the country once more, this time in the critical area of juvenile 
justice. It is very appropriate that this matter be pursued at this 
time because, according to the National Center on Juvenile Justice, 47 
out of 50 States have legislation in their State legislatures that 
would literally wipe out the State juvenile court system. It is not 
hard to be surprised about why these kinds of things are happening, 
because we know that our citizens are angry about the juvenile justice 
system in our country.
  For example, there are many who come to my townhall meetings and say, 
``Ron, 20 years ago we left our car doors unlocked, we left our windows 
open, and we were safe. But today, it's not that way any longer. I'm an 
older person, and I'm concerned about going out after 4 o'clock in the 
afternoon. I'm frightened. I'm frightened by what the thugs in my 
neighborhood might do to me.''
  These citizens are not going to sit around and have debates about 
diversion programs, which is one approach for juvenile justice, or 
probation programs. They just want to make sure that they are 
protected, that they and their families are secure in their homes, and 
that their right to be free, their civil right, if you will, to be free 
from crime in their neighborhood is protected. It is not hard to see 
why State legislatures around this country are proposing bills to get 
rid of the juvenile justice system altogether.
  So I come to the floor today to talk about an effort that is underway 
in Oregon to literally turn the juvenile justice system on its head and 
make it vibrant again. What we are seeking to do--and it is an effort 
that is being pioneered in central Oregon and Deschutes County, 
specifically--is to turn the juvenile justice system on its head and 
move from a model that was based on prevention and treatment to one 
that is based on accountability. We call this model community justice.
  It is community justice because we feel that when a crime is 
committed, our community loses something. A person is harmed 
economically, physically, or emotionally, but also the community is 
harmed. Our community loses a sense of security. It loses funds that 
are needed for police work, and funds that are involved in 
incarceration and in probation. All our community suffers.
  We believe it is first the responsibility of the system to avoid 
crimes being committed in the first place, but it also is critically 
important that if a crime is committed, the offender must be held 
accountable for making the community whole--the offender must earn 
their way back into the community. Prosecutors and police, and others, 
in Deschutes County, OR, have begun a new system built around 
accountability so that if, for example, you have a first-time offender, 
a nonviolent first-time offender, who has robbed the home of a senior 
citizen, what you are going to see is that this young offender is going 
to be required to pay back the community. My sense is that this notion 
of accountability, accountability for juvenile offenders so that there 
are consequences every time a juvenile offender commits a crime, is the 
direction that we ought to be going.

  In Deschutes County, we look at this as part of what we have come to 
call the Oregon option. The Oregon option has been an approach that we 
pioneered with the Federal Government which stipulates that when local 
government is freed from some of the bureaucratic redtape, in return, 
we will make sure there are actual results; in other words, that we can 
prove that in return for relief from some of the bureaucratic 
constraints, we can meet the requirements of a particular community 
service program.
  What we are saying in Oregon is that when there are dollars that are 
now earmarked for, say, prison beds for young offenders, we will 
commit, under the community justice kind of approach, to making sure 
those young offenders are held accountable and repay the community. And 
if, in fact, we can't do it, then the community is going to make sure, 
with community resources, that the goals of the juvenile justice 
system, and holding youthful offenders accountable, is met through 
buying back the prison beds.
  My view is that this model of community justice is the kind of 
approach that the Congress should look at this year when we consider 
the juvenile justice statute, which is up again for reauthorization. We 
ought to say, as part of that law, that any juvenile justice system 
should require young offenders to complete accountability contracts to 
ensure that they make amends for their offense. We ought to make sure 
that, as part of the reauthorization of the juvenile justice system, 
local programs receive high marks from victims--and here the Chair has 
done yeoman work, in my view--that victims become the central customer 
of the criminal justice system.
  I believe that using these kinds of principles, principles of 
accountability, principles of community involvement, principles of 
ensuring that victims become the customer of the system, we can build a 
new system.
  Not long ago, I went to Deschutes County to learn about their 
community justice program. What I saw was a coalition of police 
officers, district attorneys, those who work in the juvenile justice 
system, Democrats, Republicans, all at a table saying, ``We believe 
that this new approach for community justice is the kind of approach 
that the Federal Government should support as part of the Juvenile 
Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act reauthorization.''
  Mr. President, I would say that if we can hold youthful offenders 
accountable, if we can ensure that there are consequences each time an 
offense is committed, if the Congress and local communities redesign 
these programs so as to work with families, we can have a new set of 
principles that would define juvenile justice for the 21st century--a 
set of principles that puts the community's needs first and makes the 
victim the principal customer.
  I submit, Mr. President, that as the Congress goes forward with 
hearings on the juvenile justice system and the consideration of the 
juvenile justice statute, eyes should focus on what is being done with 
community justice in Deschutes County, OR, because I believe those 
kinds of principles, the principles that represent our community 
values, is what we should build the juvenile justice system around for 
the 21st century.
  Mr. President, I yield the floor and suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. BYRD. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. BYRD. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent I may speak for not 
to exceed 15 minutes, and that the time for morning business be 
extended accordingly.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The Senator from West Virginia is recognized.
  Mr. BYRD. I thank the Chair.

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