Anna Staver

Statesman Journal

If a person violates a restraining order in Oregon, it's not a crime.

It's a civil contempt charge. That means judges can impose sanctions or jail time at their discretion, but the consequences never increase for repeat offenders.

"It sends a mixed message," said Kim Larson, the victim assistance director for Marion County. "We have this order of protection, but we don't have a great system for enforcing it."

Senate President Peter Courtney, D-Salem, wants to fix that problem during the 2015 Legislative session by introducing a bill that would give judges the option to charge offenders with misdemeanor or felony crimes.

Here's how it would work.

The bill would amend the Family Abuse Protection Act to include the option to charge a person with a crime if the violation "created a substantial risk of physical injury to a person protected by the order," or the offender "intentionally attempted to place a person protected by the order in fear of imminent physical injury."

If convicted, a person could face up to five years imprisonment and a fine of $125,000.

The maximum sentence violators face now is six months in jail with no criminal record.

"We need to start making some major statements in criminal law about domestic violence," Courtney said. "If you really want to make a statement here from a public standpoint, you need to say we are going to make it a felony, and you are going to jail."

So, why does the Senate President want to make this change now?

Michael Gay, the spokesman for the Senate Republican Office, said it sounded like an election year change of heart.

"President Courtney voted twice to let violent criminals out of jail early; he voted to allow some child molesters to take their names off the sex offender registry; he voted against compensation for victims of child abuse and he voted to underfund state police," Gay said. "These are not the votes of someone who prioritizes the safety of our communities or protecting victims."

Courtney's office disputed that accounting of his record, pointing to bills passed in the 1991 Legislative session that extended the statute of limitations for crimes involving children and the period of time sex offenders must register with parole or probation departments.

As for the timing of this bill, Courtney said he decided to act after a series of articles appeared in the Statesman Journal.

In August, a Mt. Angel man and his ex-girlfriend's mother died after an apparent murder-suicide.

And in September, a Silverton nurse named Cassie Wagner was murdered and police arrested her ex-boyfriend, Jason Down.

Wagner had filed a restraining order against Down 40 days before she died. He violated the protection order in August, but the judge gave him probation.

"From a victim perspective, just having a violation be a crime would be a huge leap forward," Larson said.

It's the one thing Larson would change about the law if she could.

"That allows there to be consequences that send a message," Larson said. "I love that someone is paying attention to that."