SALEM, Ore. — A majority of Oregonians polled say they oppose Gov. Kate Brown’s decision to commute the sentences of people serving time for offenses they committed as juveniles, according to a survey commissioned by the Oregon District Attorneys Association.
A majority of those polled also said the state is headed in the wrong direction on public safety and they feel less safe than compared to two years ago.
The organization, which represents the state’s elected district attorneys, released the poll Tuesday.
Nelson Research, a Salem-based public opinion research firm, polled 500 likely voters on Jan. 4. The margin of error was about 4 percentage points.
The poll touched on a range of public safety and criminal justice issues, including Brown’s use of her clemency authority to commute the sentences of people in prison.
Prosecutors have been among the most vocal opponents of recent legislative changes, which included limiting crimes eligible for the death penalty and shifting juveniles accused of violent crimes from the adult system into the juvenile one.
Two district attorneys joined the families of crime victims in a recent lawsuit to block the governor’s commutations.
On clemency, 56% of those polled somewhat or strongly opposed Brown’s commutations of juvenile offenders.
Last fall, Brown commuted the sentences of offenders serving mandatory minimum sentences for crimes they committed as juveniles by making more than 70 of them eligible to pursue parole. She also said she will personally consider releasing about 140 others case by case.
Of those polled, 65% said community safety and crime have become more important in the past two years and 55% said their city or county were less safe in that period. About 62% said they felt Oregon’s “political leadership” is “too soft” on crime.
Deschutes County District Attorney John Hummel, who has split with the district attorneys group on many issues related to changes in the criminal justice system, blasted the survey, calling it “either a deliberate push poll to produce results that mirror the majority opinion” of the association’s members or “it was a negligent work product that inadvertently resulted in biased questions.”
“Either way, the results should be viewed with caution,” he said.
Marion County District Attorney Paige Clarkson, who serves as president of the group, said the poll results echo what she hears daily from constituents.
“The public is fed up with crime and criminals and the policies that protect them,” she said in a text message.
Meanwhile, earlier this week the Oregon Criminal Justice Commission released the results of its first crime victim study, which found that 30% of Oregonians surveyed reported they had been victims of crime in 2020. The commission is a clearinghouse for criminal justice data.
State analysts say the rate is higher than the national rate, though they said survey methodology is likely a factor in the difference. The annual federal survey, for instance, involves multiple interviews of members of the same household over a period of years. Oregon conducted its study by contacting Oregonians via letters and asking them to complete a survey online or by phone.
The state survey also found that Black and Native American Oregonians, as well as people who are gay, lesbian and bisexual reported higher rates of victimization compared with the state as a whole.
