Multnomah County

Change From the Ground Up: Multnomah County

The on-the-ground experience of Multnomah County, Ore., serves as a national model for policy change.   

An original JDAI site, Multnomah demonstrates successful, persistent juvenile detention reform. Building on existing community resources, the county designed and implemented detention innovations for more than 10 years, resulting in:

·         A 78 percent decrease in detention population;

·         An 82 percent decrease in total annual admissions.[i]   

Sustained commitment. A collaborative effort of stakeholders led to a shared commitment for juvenile detention reform. The shared vision to supervise and provide youth services in the community wherever possible— to promote positive development and protect public safety— continues to drive reform in Multnomah.   

Multnomah County effectively staffs a full continuum of care, including short-term shelter care, community detention and house arrest, electronic monitoring and a staff-secure shelter. Multnomah’s innovations now serve as national models.  

Its model memorandum of understanding between police, probation, community agencies and schools fundamentally altered how the police handle runaways and status offenders. The Multnomah County Reception Center processes young offenders 24 hours a day, seven days a week, limiting unnecessary secure detentions.   

Cost effective. By reducing its reliance on secure detention, Multnomah closed three detention units and diverted approximately $2 million a year to other services. This $12 million resource reallocation financed the cost of detention alternatives.

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[i] http://www.jdaihelpdesk.org/Pages/MultnomahCountyOR.aspx