Multnomah County juvenile justice system is broken, crime-victims' group says

The Multnomah County juvenile justice system is broken, with youth offenders not being held accountable for serious crimes, according to a report released Tuesday by an influential crime victims' advocacy group.

The report, written by a retired Jackson County juvenile probation officer for Crime Victims United, took more than a year and is dedicated to the memory of Davonte Lightfoot, a Portland 14-year-old who was fatally shot in North Portland on Jan. 6, 2007.

At the time he was gunned down, Lightfoot was wearing an electronic monitoring bracelet. He already had 16 juvenile referrals, a history of probation violations and a prior gun possession charge. Three weeks before Lightfoot's death, a prosecutor unsuccessfully tried to persuade a judge to detain him. [Mark Godsey]

Continue Reading "Multnomah County juvenile justice system is broken, crime-victims' group says"