Yamhill County, Oregon, encompasses 718 square miles and is home to more than 99,000 residents. It is approximately 40 miles southwest of the heart of Portland.
Vision for EBDM
Yamhill County envisions a safer community where professionals work together utilizing data, research, and evidence-based practices in the criminal justice system.
Yamhill County will experience enhanced public safety, a reduction in the number of victims, greater offender accountability, and a reduced threat of harm through the appropriate application of proven practices at all phases of the criminal justice process.
The Yamhill County Jail can house 257 inmates, but most often operates under capacity. Yamhill County Community Corrections supervises 1,121 adult offenders on misdemeanor and felony probation, and on post-prison supervision. The Yamhill County criminal justice team has enjoyed a long history of close collaboration and innovation as evidenced by the establishment of a special management team prior to the EBDM Initiative. The purpose of this team was to identify methods to decrease the likelihood that mentally ill offenders would be housed in the local jail.
EBDM Stakeholders
Yamhill County stakeholders have a history of meeting weekly to work toward shared goals and system improvements. The EBDM policy team formed as a natural evolution of this work. The team is comprised of
- the presiding judge
- a county commissioner
- the district attorney
- the sheriff
- a defense attorney
- a victim advocate
- the director of Health and Human Services
- the director of community corrections
Harm Reduction Goals
Yamhill County’s harm reduction goals include the following:
- Increase victim and public safety by reducing pretrial misconduct, increasing court appearance rates, making informed release decisions, and providing effective conditions of release for individuals who can be managed safely in the community.
- Reduce harm to defendants and their families due to unnecessary pretrial detention of individuals who can be safely managed in the community.
- Achieve greater financial return on investment in treatment, rehabilitation, and alternatives to incarceration.
- Reduce recidivism by 5% in community corrections felony populations over the next 48 months by improving early assessment practices and properly matching offenders to evidence-based programs based on their risk and need.
- Increase the overall health and safety of our community by focusing on cost-effective, research-based principles to improve our response to, and reduce the involvement of, special needs individuals in the criminal justice system.