NYT Tells Nation to Be More Like Oregon

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by: Abassos • April 28, 2011 • no comments

According to Wednesday's New York Times, Oregon has the lowest recidivism rate in the nation. Roughly 23 percent of Oregon offenders in 2004 returned within 3 years. As compared to, say, California, that has close to a 60% recidivism rate. According to the Times, the reason is that:

"In the 1990s, the Oregon Legislature created a rating system that allows parole officers to employ a range of sanctions - short of a return to prison - for offenders whose infractions were minor and did not present a danger. A parolee who fails a drug test can be sent to residential drug treatment or sentenced to house arrest or community service. In 2003, the state passed a law requiring all state-financed correctional treatment programs to use methods that have been shown to improve client compliance and to reduce recidivism."

"The wise approach" says the Times to the rest of the nation, "would be to adopt the programs that have proved so successful in Oregon."