Mannix: Prison housing costs must be reduced
Nov. 13th, 2011 | StatesmanJournal.com
A state commission should not rush to judgment on whether to reduce Oregon's minimum sentences for violent crimes, said the chief sponsor of the ballot initiative that voters approved in 1994 to impose them.
Kevin Mannix, a Salem lawyer and then-state representative, said Measure 11 is at least partly responsible for Oregon's dramatic drop in violent crime rates since the measure took effect in April 1995.
"We have a success story to tell in public safety," Mannix told the Statesman Journal editorial board. "It's not perfect, but it's a success."
Mannix sponsored Measure 11, which set minimum prison terms for 16 violent crimes — since expanded to 22 — and barred judges from reducing prison sentences for those crimes ranging from 70 months to 25 years.
Voters approved it and a companion constitutional amendment that requires two-thirds majorities in both chambers of the Legislature to reduce voter-approved sentences. Lawmakers have done so a few times.
Oregon's prison population has more than doubled during that period to 14,000 today. About 40 percent are housed for Measure 11 crimes.
A state commission appointed by Gov. John Kitzhaber is looking at public safety. Mannix fears that it will focus only on reducing mandatory sentences, although some commission members — among them state Sen. Jackie Winters, R-Salem, and retired Salem auto dealer Dick Withnell — said their goal is more effective spending.
"I would say Measure 11 is not the only piece" contributing to the reduction in violent crime, Mannix said. "But I do think it's a keystone."
In addition to his law practice, Mannix is executive director of the Oregon Anti-crime Alliance, which largely supports a trio of ballot measures Mannix sponsored and voters approved back in 1994. Another group, the Partnership for Safety and Justice, has weighed in as a critic of minimum sentences.
Mannix said one of his chief concerns was the impression left by a presentation by a Texas state legislator at a commission meeting Oct. 21 in Medford.
