About Us
Partnership for Safety and Justice (PSJ) is a multi-faceted, statewide advocacy organization based in Portland, Oregon.
PSJ was founded in 1999 originally as the Western Prison Project. We have developed a pioneering and provocative model for our work – one that brings together all of those most directly affected by crime, violence and the criminal justice system (survivors of crime, people convicted of crime, and the families of both) to advocate for a system that is just and that more effectively builds safer, healthier communities.
We are the first advocacy organization in the country to unite all of these constituencies. We believe this approach offers a holistic perspective and a valuable strategy for shifting Oregon towards more effective, prevention-based approaches for creating community safety.
View a printable version of our Recent Accomplishments and Current Work.
Recent Accomplishments
We helped pass the 2009 Safety and Savings Act. It included a range of sentencing reforms that save roughly $50 million in reduced need for prison beds. It then reinvested that money into critical public safety infrastructure like domestic violence services, addictions treatment, and community corrections. Read more about the Safety and Savings Act.
We organized to increase funding for survivors of domestic and sexual violence. As a result, the Oregon Domestic and Sexual Violence Services Fund was increased in 2007 and 2009. Read more about ODSVS funding.
We led the campaign to defeat Kevin Mannix's Measure 61. This 2008 measure would have been the biggest prison-building policy in the state's history. If it had passed, it would have created new mandatory minimum sentences and gutted the state budget.
We helped get kids out of adult jails. In 2008, PSJ supported a resolution in Oregon's largest county to prevent youth from being held in adult jails.
We got Multnomah County and Eugene to Think Outside the Box. In 2007 PSJ's members organized to remove the box that asks "Have you ever been convicted of a felony?" from initial job applications in Multnomah County. They did the same in Eugene in 2009 to reduce employment barriers for formerly incarcerated people. Read more about barriers to re-entry and Beyond Barriers.
Our Current Work
Youth Justice
We are working to combat the laws that automatically try, sentence, and imprison youth in our adult system. Visit our Youth Justice page.
HEAL Oregon
ODSVS Fund
Earned Time
Crime Survivors' Toolkit
Justice Reinvestment
Employment Barriers
Racial Impact Statements
2010 Elections
Health Education for Addiction Legislation
This work is designed to shift Oregon’s approach to addiction towards a public health approach rather than a criminalization approach. Core objectives are to increase state funding and investment in addiction treatment, prevention and recovery services to increase access to proven alternatives to incarceration like drug courts.
This work is designed to shift Oregon’s approach to addiction towards a public health approach rather than a criminalization approach. Core objectives are to increase state funding and investment in addiction treatment, prevention and recovery services to increase access to proven alternatives to incarceration like drug courts.
ODSVS Fund
PSJ will continue to play a central role in the Oregon Alliance to End Violence Against Women, a statewide effort to increase funding for the Oregon Domestic and Sexual Violence Services Fund.
Earned Time
The issue of earned time will be up for considerable debate during the 2011 legislative session. In the interim, we are meeting with the Secretary of State’s office to ensure they have the most accurate and up-to-date information about the effectiveness of earned-time policies.
Crime Survivors' Toolkit
PSJ is creating a toolkit for victim service providers and others, including addiction treatment providers, to distribute to adult survivors of crime. The kit will include booklets with resources including: How to Find Help in Your Community; What the Criminal Justice System is Like; and Substance Abuse and Surviving Crime.
Justice Reinvestment
Oregon spends way too much money imprisoning people and it doesn’t make us safer. PSJ is working to show legislators how we can use Oregon’s public safety dollars to build safer and healthier communities.
Employment Barriers
PSJ is working with the Governor’s Re-Entry Council to develop legislative proposals for the 2011 legislative session that reduce employment barriers for people with conviction histories.
Racial Impact Statements
We are working in coalition to support a bill for the 2011 legislative session that would help address racial disparity within our criminal justice system.
2010 Elections
PSJ is monitoring regressive criminal justice-related initiative petitions which have been filed with the Secretary of State and will prepare an organizing response if the initiative petitions become ballot measures for the November election.
