Three DAs Respond to Public Safety Commission`s Report
December 30, 2011
District Attorneys Michael D. Schrunk, Robert W. Hermann, and John S. Foote respond to the report of the Governor's Commission on Public Safety. These experienced district attorneys say in the first page of their response:
"...our primary disagreement with this process is that the most basic conclusion of this Commission appears to have been established before Commission members were even selected. The Governor’s charge to the Commission, pointedly, was that “the Commission on Public Safety shall develop recommendations for comprehensive sentencing reform.” Taken off the table from the outset by the Governor unfortunately was any debate about whether “comprehensive sentencing reform” was actually even necessary in Oregon. In a state where much of the sentencing structure for violent crime has been the result of direct voter participation, we believe this constitutes a mandate to a public body to simply brush aside the will of the people of this state."
