Oregon Measure 71, Limited Pretrial Release of Accused "Violent" Felons Amendment (1999)

Oregon Measure 71
Election date November 2, 1999
Topic Bail policy and Crime victims' rights
Status Approved
Type Legislatively referred constitutional amendment	Origin State legislature

Oregon Measure 71 was on the ballot as a legislatively referred constitutional amendment in Oregon on November 2, 1999. It was approved.

A "yes" vote supported requiring a court to consider the reasonable protection of the victim and public when deciding to pretrial release the accused person, prohibiting the pretrial release of persons accused of violent felonies if the accused is likely to have committed the crime or if they pose a physical danger to the public or victims.

A "no" vote opposed requiring a court to consider the reasonable protection of the victim and public when deciding to pretrial release the accused person, prohibiting the pretrial release of persons accused of violent felonies if the accused is likely to have committed the crime or if they pose a physical danger to the public or victims.

Election results

Oregon Measure 71
Result		Votes	Percentage
Yes		404,404	58.01%
No		292,696	41.99%

Results are officially certified.

Source

Text of measure

Ballot title

The ballot title for Measure 71 was as follows:

“

AMENDS CONSTITUTION: LIMITS PRETRIAL RELEASE OF ACCUSED PERSON TO PROTECT VICTIMS, PUBLIC. RESULT OF "YES” VOTE: “Yes” vote limits pretrial release of persons accused of violent felonies to protect victims, public. RESULT OF "NO” VOTE: “No” vote leaves current Oregon statutory pretrial release and constitutional bail provisions unchanged.  SUMMARY: Amends Constitution Grants victims right to reasonable protection from accused person or convicted criminal throughout criminal justice process, and from alleged youth offender or youth offender throughout juvenile delinquency process. Prosecuting attorney is the person authorized to assert rights of victims and public. Pretrial release in criminal cases must be based on reasonable protection of victims and public as well as likelihood accused person will appear for trial. Makes violent felonies not bailable when court finds probable cause to believe accused person committed crime, and danger exists of physical injury or sexual victimization to victims or public if accused person released before trial. ESTIMATE OF FINANCIAL IMPACT: No financial effect on state or local government expenditures or revenues.

”

Full Text

The full text of this measure is available here.

Path to the ballot

See also: Amending the Oregon Constitution

A simple majority vote is required during one legislative session for the Oregon State Legislature to place a constitutional amendment on the ballot. That amounts to a minimum of 31 votes in the Oregon House of Representatives and 16 votes in the Oregon State Senate, assuming no vacancies. Amendments do not require the governor's signature to be referred to the ballot.

See also

1999 Measures

• 1999 Measures
• Crime victims' rights on the ballot
• Bail policy on the ballot
• 1999 legislative sessions

Oregon

• Oregon ballot measures
• Oregon ballot measure laws

News and analysis

• Ballot measure lawsuits
• Ballot measure readability
• Ballot measure polls

External links

• Oregon Voter Guide (1999)