Host Karen James interviews Julia Yoshimoto, an attorney with Oregon Justice Resource Center, about her new report, Unlocking Measure 57, which explains how the development of Oregon criminal laws over the last few decades has widened the net of defendants who receive mandatory minimum sentences for property offenses. The report claims that nearly half the women serving time at Coffee Creek Correctional Facility were convicted of Measure 57 crimes and, as Oregon legislators are faced with the decision to open a second women’s prison, the report suggests that legislators should instead repeal Measure 57. Ballot Measure 57 was passed by Oregon voters in 2008.
Julia Yoshimoto is Project Director of OJRC’s Reentry Law Project and its Women in Prison Project and is dedicated to using her law degree to increase access to justice by strengthening the bridge between legal services and social services. She provides quality legal assistance through our partnerships with MercyCorps Northwest and with Red Lodge Transition Services, a Native American organization.
Unlocking Measure 57: http://ojrc.info/women-in-prison-project/
- KBOO