PUBLICATIONS.

“To change the criminal justice system, we need to change policymaking” by Talia Gad, communications director (Street Roots, 2021)

H.B. 2002 was developed by a coalition of racial justice and public safety advocates, including Partnership for Safety & Justice — the workgroup-centered visionaries of true public safety who have lived experience in the criminal justice system as people who have been convicted of a crime and who have survived harm and violence. Read more here.
We’ve been publishing regular Street Roots columns since 2011. See the complete list here.

Celebrating 22 Years: Our 2019-2020 Impact Report (Summer 2021)

Across the country, and here in Oregon, people are demanding sweeping changes for safety and healing. Together, we are advancing a new vision for public safety – one that truly values Black lives, recognizes that justice does not exist unless extended to everyone, and understands that defaulting to jails, prisons, and other forms of control causes unnecessary and avoidable harm. Read more here.

When We Tell Our Stories: How survivors of color are most harmed and least helped by the public safety system (2020)

What do survivors of color need after trauma? This question was the heart of focus groups and one-on-one conversations where community-based, culturally specific organizations and partners in government agencies worked together to better understand the needs of survivors of color.

Participants’ experiences are as diverse as the people themselves, and their voices converged over shared themes of invisibility, strength, distress, resilience, unhealed trauma, and determination. Read more here.
Leer el reporte en español.

Celebrating 20 Years: Our 2017-2018 Impact Report (Summer 2019)

Our focus on the people most affected by both crime and the justice system endures as the foundation of PSJ’s work. For 20 years, our holistic vision has inspired generations of our advocates and allies and informed justice reform efforts across the country. Read more here.

“All of us have a shared interest in transforming our justice system,” by Andy Ko, executive director (Oregonian, 2018)

At Partnership for Safety and Justice, one of our core beliefs is that crime victims and people who have committed crimes have a shared interest in transformation of the criminal justice system. The point of our justice system should be to reduce the harm caused by harmful situations. Read more here.

“A whole-system perspective on why justice matters,” by Andy Ko, executive director (Street Roots, 2016)

Justice isn’t only about what particular people want, need or deserve – or their power to get what they want. For us, justice is about how people interact and how their actions relate to and affect one another. It is about accountability within and across a society. This, by the way, is one reason that we long ago incorporated the rights and needs of crime victims into our reform ethos. Read more here.
We’ve been publishing regular Street Roots columns since 2011. See the complete list here.

Misguided Measures Revisited: Progress and Promise in Oregon’s Youth Justice System (2016)

There is a common thread connecting all of the most harmful practices youth face within Oregon’s justice system: Ballot Measure 11. In order to overcome this enormous hurdle to reform, lawmakers, stakeholders, and advocates must work together to strike a sensible balance between appropriate accountability and increased discretion in the prosecution and sentencing of youth. Until then, we will not be able to realize our vision of a truly effective juvenile justice system. Read more here.

Who Pays? The True Cost of Incarceration on Families (2015)

The findings detailed in this report show the many costs and barriers imposed on incarcerated individuals and their families, the emotional and health costs they experience, and how these costs impede the future success of both families and of communities at large. We’ve also demonstrated the tremendous burdens that women, in particular, experience as direct damage from mass incarceration. As many of these costs fall disproportionately on families and communities that are already struggling, they deepen poverty while dampening any hope of change.

Moving ahead, the families and communities proven to provide stability and security for incarcerated individuals and to help reduce rates of recidivism overall should be supported by reforming and reinvesting in policies that do better by families, removing barriers, and restoring opportunities. Read more here.

Bridging the Divide: A New Paradigm for Addressing Safety, Crime, and Victimization (2014)

There is a growing movement to confront the false choice between meeting the needs of crime victims and reforming failed criminal justice and corrections policies.

Increasingly, legislators across the country are hearing from victim advocates that our public safety system is out of balance when so many resources are devoted to prisons. New organizing is responsible for not only passing needed sentencing and corrections reforms but also increasing funding for life-saving victim services and re-orienting our public safety system to be more effective. Read more here.

Moving Beyond Sides: The Power and Potential of a New Public Safety Policy Paradigm (2011)

Incorporating the concerns of crime survivors and victims into a progressive criminal justice reform agenda will take work to shift analytical issue frames, goals, language, and organizational culture. The rewards for taking this step will be plentiful, ranging from increased credibility, a larger and more powerful base of support, the decreased power and influence of a key tough on crime lobby, and the ability to change a broken criminal justice system in ways that truly benefit all the people most impacted: survivors of crime, people convicted of crime, and the families of both. Read more here.

Misguided Measures: The Outcomes and Impacts of Measure 11 on Oregon’s Youth (2009)

Fifteen years after Measure 11 was enacted, the Campaign for Youth Justice and Partnership for Safety and Justice embarked on a study to determine the impact that Measure 11 was having on youth in Oregon. The authors analyzed data on 3,274 young people indicted with Measure 11 offenses since 1995. The authors also looked at a subset of 759 cases handled between 2006 and 2008 to understand the current way Measure 11 is being implemented in the 36 Oregon counties. Read more here.

Access Denied in Oregon: A Report on the Barriers Faced by People with a Past Felony Conviction (2006)

Successful re-entry is difficult, in part, because of a wide range of civil barriers that reduce opportunities for people with a past felony conviction. Unless you are a formerly incarcerated person, or a family member or friend of a former prisoner, the real struggles associated with transitioning back into the community from prison are probably quite unfamiliar. This report is designed to provide a glimpse into some of the existing challenges. Read more here.

Transition Support Directory

We hope that these resources will help you prepare for your return to your community so that you may thrive in the next phase of your life. We are aware of and are saddened by the limited transition resources available for some needs and in some areas of the state. If a particular organization doesn’t offer what you’re seeking, we encourage you to ask them for referrals to other groups that may not be listed here. Download the directory here.