A team of journalists at the university of Oregon spent the past year and a half delving deep into an issue that turned out to be exceptionally timely – what to do with young Oregonians who were convicted of serious crimes as juveniles.

Current and former UO students and a journalism professor at the school produced a documentary and a podcast series that examines Oregon’s landmark mandatory minimum sentence law that voters approved decades ago. 

Since then, Oregon has taken steps to soften the legal blow for young people convicted of Measure 11 crimes but it was not retroactive. The project is dropping just as Governor Brown is considering what to do with dozens of young people who are serving time for these crimes

On this episode, we hear from Ed Madison and Jordan Bentz. Madison is a journalism professor at the University of Oregon. Bentz is a freelance producer who partnered with Madison and the young journalists on the project

We talked about these young people, including one the main characters in the series, Ricky Gaters, who was convicted of robbery and assault before he turned 18. We talked about measure 11 and its history, what victims advocates have to say about reforms and more.

Related:

The UO project page

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