Effects of the current recession are being felt everywhere. Some counties in Oregon are trimming the budget for all services, including criminal prosecutions. An effect of this is that the County will not be able to prosecute some crimes as aggressively as before.
As this Oregonian report states, this means some felonies will be prosecuted as misdemeanors, some misdemeanors will be downgraded to violations, and some violations will not be pursued at all. Downgrading charges is nothing new but counties can expect to see this at a much higher rate with the budget tightening.
Interestingly, not all counties will be feeling these effects. What does this mean? Well, some think that this will encourage a higher crime rate in those counties that are lightening up on crime. If a thief thinks he can get away with more in Multnomah County than he can in Washington County, he may move his criminal behavior over to the more lax county. [read more...]