The SMART sentencing project is based on evidence-based decision-making principles and funded by the Justice Reinvestment grant through the Oregon Criminal Justice Commission. It provides the state and the defense a report (DAR) based on individualized risk assessments to aid in assessing a defendant’s amenability to evidence-based programs on community supervision. The assessments are grounded in evidence-based studies that demonstrate that “Risk-Needs” assessments can identify a person’s criminogenic risk factors and identify needs and programs to address those factors and needs with the overarching goal of improved public safety through reduce recidivism. The DAR operates on the principle that many individuals are more likely to succeed in community supervision than in a correctional facility if their risk factors are addressed through cognitive and other proven practices.
Individuals deferred from prison receive specialized, gender and dosage-based, supervision with wrap around services. Many individuals become enrolled in the Yamhill County Treatment Courts.
Since program inception in 2013, Yamhill County has successfully diverted 280 individuals who would have otherwise received state prison sentences, impacting many lives and saving taxpayers thousands of dollars.