News & Resources
Opinion: Time For Oregon To Pull Back On Measure 11’s Mandatory Minimums
By Martin Lockett Lockett is serving the final year of a 17-year sentence at Deer Ridge Correctional Institution in Madras. Seventeen years ago, I drove drunk and crashed into a car that killed two people and injured another. I was 24. At the time, I was working full-time and attending Portland Community College part-time…. Read More »
Unjustly Convicted Prisoners Released After Decades of Imprisonment
The problem of unjustly convicted prisoners in America never seems to go away. Groups such as the Innocence Project have long been striving for the release of prisoners who should not have been sentenced in the first instance. Finally, some unjustly convicted prisoners are getting released. North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper recently issued a… Read More »
Pendulum Is Finally Swinging Back On Excessive Prosecution Of Juveniles In Oregon
In Oregon, for over twenty-five years prosecutors have had sole discretion in trying juvenile offenders as adults in court. This was dictated by Ballot Measure 11. However, the Oregon Legislature has since pushed back on sending adolescents to adult prisons and now enables many of them to remain in the juvenile court system, with… Read More »
Recent Study Reveals that People of Color Are Under-Reporting Crimes Where They Are Victims
Recent Study Reveals that, in the Portland area, People of Color Are Under-Reporting Crimes Where They Are Victims One legacy of systemic racism in the legal system is that people of color are less likely to report instances where they are victims of crime. According to a recent study, people of color within the… Read More »
Efforts Are Under Way To Remove Language Remaining In The US Constitution That Permits Slavery
It is commonly believed that the Emancipation Proclamation and the Thirteenth Amendment put an end to lawfully-authorized slavery in the United States. Sadly, such is not the case. The Thirteenth Amendment was ratified and made a part of the US Constitution on December 6, 1965. The actual text of the 13th Amendment provides as… Read More »
Is it Illegal to Record Police Interactions in Oregon?
According to the Pew Research Center, 96% of Americans own a cellphone of some kind; 81% of which are smartphones with cameras, audio and video recording capabilities. As is evident across the Internet, individuals use these smartphones to capture everything from vacation sunsets and pet photos to community outreach and mission-based projects. There are… Read More »
Honoring Oregon’s First Black Female Supreme Court Justice Adrienne Nelson
Our law firm’s blog frequently posts stories about injustice. Today we take great pleasure in profiling Oregon’s first black female Supreme Court Justice. Oregon Supreme Court Justice Adrienne Nelson recently received the honor of having a new high school being named after her. This title came at the end of a controversial, yet innovative… Read More »
Oregon Voters Take Further Steps To End The “WAR ON DRUGS”
For many years, it has been widely recognized that the “War on Drugs” was a dismal failure. The greatest single impact of the failed “War on Drugs” was to destroy the lives of millions of people, primarily Blacks, Hispanics and other minorities. Enlightened thinkers now realize that the best solution to problem of drug… Read More »
The Impact of COVID-19 on the Defendant’s Right to an Impartial Jury
As the COVID-19 virus continues to impact many aspects of Oregon residents’ personal and professional lives, our criminal defense attorneys are acutely concerned about protecting our clients’ right to a fair trial by an impartial jury. Because the pandemic disproportionately affects older people, women, and people of color, these groups are more likely to… Read More »
Guest Blog By Retired Oregon Supreme Court Justice Richard C. Baldwin
Starving the Wolf of White Supremacy Like most Americans, I am heartened to see the peaceful protestors in our streets demanding a long overdue recognition of the humanity and citizenship of Black Americans. This struggle to affirm our common humanity began more than 150 years ago during the Civil War, when Abraham Lincoln issued… Read More »
