united-states constitutional-law oregon
What does Oregon ballot measure 112 actually do?
<p>Section 31, Article 4 of the Oregon constitution says:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>There shall be neither slavery nor involuntary servitude in the State, <em>otherwise than as a punishment for crime, whereof the party shall have been duly convicted</em>.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Measure 112 removes the italicized  clause, but it adds:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Upon conviction of a crime, an Oregon court or a probation or parole agency may order the convicted person to engage in education, counseling, treatment, <strong>community service</strong> or other alternatives to incarceration, as part of sentencing for the crime, in accordance with programs that have been in place historically or that may be developed in the future, to provide accountability, reformation, protection of society or rehabilitation.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>(emphasis added)</p>
<p>Doesn't this basically mean that convicted criminals can't be required to work, but they can be required to work?</p>

<p>The previous constitutional provision, which copies the wording of the 13th Amendment to the US Federal Constitution, would in theory have allowed a converted criminal to be sentenced to lifetime slavery,  or to a long period of indentured servitude, although this has not commonly been done. This language <strong>has</strong> allowed convicted criminals to be sentenced to many years of hard labor in a prion setting, including under circumstances where the convicts are rented out to private employers.</p>
<p>I take it that such practices would be forbidden by the new language, and that only a limited period of &quot;community service&quot; would be allowed, not under prison conditions, and not designed to benefit private employers. It is not clear to me just what the limits of &quot;community service&quot; are, in intensity or duration. But the suggestioinb seems to be that they would be much less intense, in both aspects, than traditional &quot;chain gang&quot; sentences.</p>

<p>There is no <em>requirement</em> to work, although there is an option to work. If you are convicted of an offense, you have the option to go to prison (or pay the fine), and in prison, you would not be required to work. This does not preclude accepting a lesser punishment whereby you must pick up highway trash, for example. You could argue that there is no choice given the alternatives of incarceration vs. picking up trash. If the measure passes, we would have to wait to see if the Oregon Supreme Court holds that alternatives to incarceration are &quot;really&quot; a form of involuntary servitude, but that seems quite unlikely.</p>
<p>A more likely conflict comes if a court specifically mandates community service and precludes fines or incarceration: we would have to wait and see if that ever happens.</p>

<p>As stated elsewhere the original draft of this amendment is similar to the U.S. 13th Amendment which banned slavery except for convict labor which was used heavily in the United States until relatively recently (Think the old Chain Gang days.).  The practice of prison labor is still used in the United States to this day, however, the most prisons will pay the working prisoners for their time and effort (No where near the minimum wage.  Usually it was enough to get the occasional candy or other treat  from the prison commissary).</p>
<p>The distinction as I see between convict slave labor and community service is that in the former, there was little choice and was done while doing prison time.  In the latter, it's normally done after prison sentence or instead of altogether.  In addition the type of work that is done is ultimately up to the prisoner, so long as it meets the community service definition.  This could include cleaning a park, reading to children at the library, working at a soup kitchen, or other matters that generally improve the community as a whole and are generally volunteer jobs that are open to members of the public who have not been convicted of any crime and are so inclined to spend their free time doing such work.</p>

<h2>It makes prison labor a choice</h2>
<p>Under the old statute, anyone convicted can be forced to work for no payment. That's indentured servitude.</p>
<p>The new statute removes that for all punishments but the community service ones, which is explicitly an alternative to incarceration.</p>
<h2>It prescribes a goal of prisons</h2>
<p>The new text also dictates that rehabilitation is to be the goal of the penal system.</p>
