Juvenile jail on ballot

By Eric Dolson

The push is on by law enforcement professionals to build a 65-bed juvenile justice center in Deschutes County. The $14.4 million project would include two new courtrooms, a new sheriff's office, new community corrections facilities and additional court space.

The bond issue will be on the November 7 vote-by-mail election. Ballots are to be sent out at the end of October.

According to information provided by justice center backers, the proposed levy rate will cost the owner of a $100,000 home about $15 per year (the actual amount will decrease from $18 in the first year to $9 in the last year of the 20-year levy).

Of the $14.4 million, $11.8 million would construct the juvenile detention facility, community corrections buildings and a juvenile court. Approximately $1.6 million would construct the new sheriff's office and $1 million would provide for additional court space using the vacated sheriff's office in the current Deschutes County Court House.

The existing juvenile facility with 10 beds was constructed in 1988. It has been used at capacity since 1994 and some juvenile offenders are now released because there is no space for them, according to backers of juvenile justice center proposal.

If the bond is approved, backers estimate that the detainee population would jump immediately to approximately 35 inmates.

"We need to be able to hold juveniles accountable. If we can't adequately respond to juvenile crimes, we can expect to see these same offenders in adult criminal court later on," wrote Presiding Circuit Court Judge Stephen Tiktin in a brochure promoting the bond.

Since the new adult jail opened just a year ago, it has been asked if it wouldn't be possible for juveniles to be placed in that facility. According to Greg Brown with the sheriff's office, locating juvenile and adult offenders where there could be contact between the two is prohibited by federal law.

Juvenile offenders also have different needs from adult criminals. Detention is only one facet of a juvenile justice system, according to backers of the bond issue.

In a report presented the Deschutes County Board of Commissioners on February 27, 1995, the Criminal Justice Advisory Council wrote that the "objective of the juvenile justice center is to serve the whole family and be able to address the needs of youth at whatever their level of involvement within the system."

This will be made easier by "co-locating the primary agencies and services, access, planning and delivery of service," according to the report.

Operating funds for the new facility would have to come from another bond issue. Under state law, it is not allowed to propose construction and operational costs in the same ballot measure.

In election materials, backers assert that "The most cost-efficient operating budget will be offered to the voters to coincide with the opening of the detention center."