News & Commentary
Jul 19, 2016
Anti-Immigrant Ballot Measures Fail to Qualify in Oregon
Three anti-immigrant ballot initiatives failed to qualify for the November ballot, but anti-immigrant extremists have vowed to bring them back again in the future.
May 04, 2016
#BlackLivesMatter Tracked by Oregon DOJ with Social Media Monitoring Software
An explainer on the booming industry to covertly monitor, track, and analyze social media data.
Apr 13, 2016
The Oregon DOJ Trains Agents on How to Break the Law
After about five months of waiting, the Oregon Department of Justice (“DOJ”) released its internal human resources investigation conducted by the special assistant attorney general looking into the surveillance of people on Twitter using #BlackLivesMatter. The report is damning. It paints an abysmal picture of rampant misinformation beginning with agents and analysists and running all the way up to the deputy attorney general, and shows how one mistake in judgment can lead to dangerous consequences for the public.
Apr 13, 2016
DOJ's Bubble of Bias
The Criminal Justice Division is in charge of identifying and assessing threats to the public and law enforcement, but their lack of diversity and cultural competency has them utterly disconnected to reality.
The report shows that DOJ analysts and supervisors have no clue how to recognize run-of-the-mill political cartoons and commentary from things that should actually concern them.
Apr 12, 2016
Internal DOJ Report Leaves Us with More Questions than Answers on the Surveillance of Black Lives Matter in Oregon
Yesterday a report on the surveillance of Black Lives Matter in Oregon was released by the Oregon Department of Justice (DOJ).
Apr 07, 2016
On Marijuana, the Work Continues
Oregon’s Measure 91 was rightly called “the new Gold Standard” of marijuana law reform bills even before voters approved it, with 56% of the vote, on Election Day 2014. What most appealed to voters, according to polling, were the criminal justice reform aspects of the initiative. Even though Oregon had led the nation in 1973 by decriminalizing possession of small amounts of marijuana, thousands of people were still being arrested each year for marijuana infractions. Oregonians clearly wanted to put a stop to that.
Feb 17, 2016
ACLU Continues to Seek Clarity on Walgreens-Providence Collaboration
By Leah Rutman, ACLU-WA Policy Counsel
Feb 11, 2016
Damning Report Reveals Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Multnomah County’s Criminal Justice System
February 11, 2016 - A new report reveals people of color are negatively impacted in greater numbers than whites at every stage of the criminal justice system in Multnomah County. The county's Racial and Ethnic Disparities (RED) report shows the disparity is greatest for black people.
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