Public Plea
A Team of UO Alumni and Current Students
What if your life hinged on decisions you made as a teenager?
Measure 11 was approved by Oregon voters in 1994, during the “tough-on-crime” era. It created mandatory minimum sentencing for certain crimes with no possibility for review or parole. Juveniles 15 and older were tried as adults depending on the offense.
This podcast chronicles the plight of Ricky Gaters, who at age 17 was stopped and arrested by Portland police officers who were investigating a nearby gang-related shooting. Gaters maintains he wasn’t involved, and evidence connecting him with the crime was inconclusive. However, to reduce his sentence from 20 or more years to 10, he pled guilty to previous lesser crimes.
“Public Plea” examines the issue from various perspectives, including interviews with juveniles, reform and victims’ rights advocates, defense attorneys, prosecutors, legislators, academics, social workers and a criminologist.
Description written by Casey Winbush.
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