Multnomah County substantially reduced the disproportionate confinement of minority youth by sharply lowering the overall population in detention by 80 percent and targeted strategies aimed at reducing disparities. Those strategies included effective and culturally appropriate community-based alternatives, including shelter care, home detention, and a day reporting center. Multnomah County developed an objective, culturally sensitive risk assessment instrument and created a seven person intake team to review each and every detention decision. The county expedited procedures to process cases, which reduced lengths of stay in detention, and implemented non-secure sanctions for probation violators. As a result the likelihood that an arrested youth will be detained is now about the same for all racial and ethnic groups. Multnomah County also saw juvenile arrests for serious violent offenses decline by 43 percent.
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Visit Multnomah County's official Juvenile Detention Reform Initiative webpage and their Police Community Partnership section for additional information on their work, including valuable videos, historical documents and news updates.
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