As Portland officials have decried the @Oregonian’s finding that 52% of all arrests in the city are of homeless people, the number of homeless people booked into jail has continued to grow each year: My last story for @Oregonian
published this morning. https://www.oregonlive.com/crime/2020/10/booking-homeless-portlanders-into-jail-is-endless-expensive-cycle-that-arrests-dont-curb-but-housing-does.html">https://www.oregonlive.com/crime/202...
published this morning. https://www.oregonlive.com/crime/2020/10/booking-homeless-portlanders-into-jail-is-endless-expensive-cycle-that-arrests-dont-curb-but-housing-does.html">https://www.oregonlive.com/crime/202...
Data genius and journalist extraordinaire @iff_or got Multnomah County Jail booking data to find this stat. And also this more disturbing number: That 87% of homeless people booked in 2016 were re-booked in a 3-year window. That’s 57% for housed people. https://www.oregonlive.com/crime/2020/10/booking-homeless-portlanders-into-jail-is-endless-expensive-cycle-that-arrests-dont-curb-but-housing-does.html">https://www.oregonlive.com/crime/202...
And those bookings? 51% were for four charges alone: criminal trespass in the second degree, theft in the second and third degrees and disorderly conduct.
These are low-level crimes that many experts say are nearly unavoidable for homeless people. https://www.oregonlive.com/crime/2020/10/booking-homeless-portlanders-into-jail-is-endless-expensive-cycle-that-arrests-dont-curb-but-housing-does.html">https://www.oregonlive.com/crime/202...
These are low-level crimes that many experts say are nearly unavoidable for homeless people. https://www.oregonlive.com/crime/2020/10/booking-homeless-portlanders-into-jail-is-endless-expensive-cycle-that-arrests-dont-curb-but-housing-does.html">https://www.oregonlive.com/crime/202...
But @iff_or and I also found that this cycle of arrest and re-arrest can change, and the thing that changes it is housing — even temporary housing like shelter or recovery housing. That finding holds true as homeless censuses and shelter options change. https://www.oregonlive.com/crime/2020/10/booking-homeless-portlanders-into-jail-is-endless-expensive-cycle-that-arrests-dont-curb-but-housing-does.html">https://www.oregonlive.com/crime/202...
What’s the takeaway? That Portland Street Response is still in the offing, and little else has been done to change the fact that arrest and jail is not ending homelessness or their cycle of crimes.
But housing appears to do that. https://www.oregonlive.com/crime/2020/10/booking-homeless-portlanders-into-jail-is-endless-expensive-cycle-that-arrests-dont-curb-but-housing-does.html">https://www.oregonlive.com/crime/202...
But housing appears to do that. https://www.oregonlive.com/crime/2020/10/booking-homeless-portlanders-into-jail-is-endless-expensive-cycle-that-arrests-dont-curb-but-housing-does.html">https://www.oregonlive.com/crime/202...
Here’s the methodology that @iff_or wrote for how we did the analysis: https://www.oregonlive.com/crime/2020/10/housing-makes-a-difference-in-homeless-arrest-rate-how-we-analyzed-the-data.html">https://www.oregonlive.com/crime/202...