Large numbers of Arrests associated with Occupy Portland are putting a strain on the local court system, according to a report in the Oregonian newspaper.
In order to address crowding in the court system, many charges against activists are being downgraded in order to process them quickly and efficiently.
Of the nearly two hundred cases related to Occupy Portland being handled by the Multnomah County District attorney’s office, nearly half have been closed through community court.
The streamlining of defendants through the court system has some activists crying foul that their right to due process is being violated.
For more on this story, KBOO’s Nat Parker spoke with Kenneth Crewsher, a civil rights attorney with the Portland Law Collective who has represented several Occupy Portland activists in court.
- KBOO