The mission of the Washington County District Attorney’s Office is: Seeking justice and protecting our community.
Seeking justice means ensuring that every decision we make and every action we take meets the highest legal and ethical standards in order to promote justice in our society. Protecting our community means that we must always be mindful and aware of our role in promoting public safety in our community. Essential to this mission are the fundamental principles of equity and justice.
The Washington County District Attorney’s Office is dedicated to serving all members of our diverse community, regardless of skin color, race or ethnicity, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, religion, native language or any other classification. We are committed to the fight against all forms of racism, bias and discrimination.
The primary way we promote equity and justice is by working with the more than 12,000 crime victims every year who come from our diverse Washington County community seeking justice. In addition to our direct work with crime victims through the court system, we also engage in additional efforts to promote principles of diversity, equity and inclusion.
Examples of this additional work include:
DA’s Office Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Advisory Committee
Established in April 2019, this committee assists in prioritizing the mission of the DA’s Office by promoting principles of diversity, equity and inclusion and ensuring our office reflects the community we serve. The mission statement of the DEI committee is available here.
Oregon Diversity Legal Job Fair
District Attorney Kevin Barton is a founding member of the Oregon Diversity Legal Job Fair. It is Oregon’s only diversity job fair for attorneys, paralegals and legal support professionals seeking employment with Oregon employers. The mission of the Oregon Diversity Legal Job Fair is to bring together Oregon's legal community to recruit and retain diverse legal professionals who will reflect the identity and values of the people and clients they serve.
The inaugural event took place virtually March 9-10, 2021. More than 40 employers hosted 81 virtual booths across the two-day event. During that time, employers conducted more than 600 interviews with candidates.
To learn more about this job fair please visit our website. You can also follow us on Facebook and LinkedIn.
Building Bridges of Understanding event series
This event series brings together leaders from law enforcement and civil society organizations to examine and further understand the racial and ethnic disparities that exist in our communities and explore actions required to remove them. Click here for more information. You can also view this video of the 2019 gathering.
District Attorney Kevin Barton was a founding member of this event series in 2016 and has remained on the Building Bridges Steering Committee since that time.
Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) training of DA’s Office personnel
The DA’s Office provides mandatory training for all employees regarding elimination of bias and principles of diversity, equity and inclusion. Additionally, all prosecutors receive mandatory training regarding prosecutorial ethics and issues related to conviction integrity.
Protecting Vulnerable Minority Victims
Minority children are disproportionally victimized by exposure to trauma, child abuse and neglect. According to the Centers for Disease Control, women and several racial/ethnic minority groups are at a higher risk of experiencing adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) that are linked to chronic health and lifelong problems, such as substance abuse and mental health challenges. District Attorney Barton is leading a taskforce to ensure all of Washington County’s children have equal access to specialized medical providers and trauma therapists.
In the News: District Attorney Kevin Barton Highlights Importance of Addressing Childhood Trauma
Conviction Integrity Committee
The DA’s Office Conviction Integrity Committee helps ensure the work of the DA’s Office meets the highest legal and ethical standards. This committee analyzes issues related to past and present cases, helps review office policies, and ensures personnel receive regular training.
Community Outreach
The DA’s Office engages in significant outreach both in person and via social media and web-based platforms. We routinely send speakers to community groups, townhalls, schools, churches, chambers of commerce, and rotaries. We are especially interested in engaging with the many diverse community groups throughout Washington County. If you know of a community group that is interested in a DA’s Office speaker, please contact stephen_mayer@washingtoncountyor.gov.
Promoting laws that reflect our community values
District Attorney Barton partnered with Representative Courtney Neron to promote HB 4145 (2020) This bill sought to protect schools and places of worship, including religious minorities, from those who threaten to cause harm or commit crimes motivated by bias or hate.
District Attorney Barton partnered with Sheriff Pat Garrett to successfully oppose the repeal of Oregon’s 31-year-old sanctuary law in order to ensure that all members of our community can have access to justice, regardless of their citizenship status or national origin.
Specialty and Treatment Courts
We sponsor or participate in eight different specialty and treatment courts. The goal of these programs is to look for ways to address root causes of crime by providing select non-violent offenders an opportunity for enhanced supervision and treatment rather than incarceration. The programs include: drug court, mental health court, veterans treatment court, family sentencing alternative program (FSAP), integrated re-entry intensive supervision services program (IRISS), domestic violence deferred sentencing program (DVDP), early case resolution program (ECR), and multiple diversion programs.
Aggressively prosecuting and tracking hate and bias crimes
District Attorney Barton supported SB 577 (2019), which updated Oregon’s bias crime laws and created a new framework for victims to report bias incidents. Bias crimes and incidents that target individuals or groups have a harmful impact on our entire community. If you are the victim of or witness to a bias crime or incident, you can report it here.
Latest News
District Attorney's Office Joins Partners to Honor Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month
In May, we joined our community and law enforcement partners to honor Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month.
It’s more important than ever to show our support for our fellow community members, especially in light of shocking and disturbing incidents of hate and bias crimes targeting Asians across the country.
We’d like to thank the Washington County Sheriff’s Office and the Muslim Educational Trust for joining us in this effort.
Click here to watch our video.
District Attorney's Office Hosts Joint Implicit Bias Training
In October of 2020, the Washington County District Attorney's Office held a joint implicit bias training with the Washington County Parole and Probation Department.
Our speaker, T.K. Floyd Foutz, conducted the virtual training. She spoke about what implicit bias is, how all of us are affected by it, and how we can combat this bias to reach more equitable outcomes for those involved in the justice system. This was our second-annual training and we are looking forward to our next event in 2021.
Multilingual Outreach
We are proud to serve the most diverse county in Oregon. From Spanish and Russian to Tagalog and German, our staff members speak multiple languages. These skills help us better connect with victims of crime and those who seek services through our office.
These videos feature various staff members delivering a message in multiple languages to highlight the services available and the concerns we have with increases in certain crimes due to the pandemic. Please follow the links below to view the videos.
