AOC has generally avoided making recommendations on bills that increase or decrease sentences, however, commissioners at the AOC Public Safety Steering Committee in February were adamant about taking a position on Senate Bill 1562, which makes strangulation of a spouse, former spouse, unmarried parents of a minor child, or partners cohabitating or in a sexually intimate relationship with one another a Class C felony. Current law treats this crime simply as a Class A Misdemeanor.

“As a retired law enforcement professional, I am appalled that any form of forced strangulation could be anything less than a felony,” said Clackamas County Commissioner Ken Humberston. “I am always supportive of alternatives for incarceration for many offenses, however, violence against others, especially women, is intolerable and is precisely what jail and prison beds are for.”

Humberston led the committee’s unanimous support, which subsequently passed the AOC Legislative Committee unanimously.

AOC joined the Oregon District Attorneys Association and the Oregon State Sheriffs Association in supporting the bill.  The concept has been considered for the last decade, but this session passed.  It passed both the House and Senate unanimously.

Contributed by: Patrick Sieng | AOC Policy Manager