OKPOLICY.ORG
The Senate Public Safety Committee chaired by Sen. Darrell Weaver, R-Moore, conducted an interim study on October 1 requested by Sen. Dave Rader, R-Tulsa, to consider several flaws in the criminal justice system – some that could perhaps be easily fixed – and quantified their cost to both taxpayers and to the individuals affected. (Video for the interim study can be found on the Senate website.)
The first issue was the hidden costs of the heavy use of pretrial confinement in Oklahoma. Michael Olson, Policy Director of Oklahomans for Criminal Justice Reform, referenced several studies that showed its effect on jobs, housing, and health.
The negative costs on individuals begin immediately and continue long term in reduced earnings, increased risk of insolvency, and foreclosures. There is also an intergenerational cost. Family income for children is highly associated with incarceration.
Another cost shown statistically comes from more guilty pleas, and longer custodial sentences result from the coercive jail environment in which incarcerated people are making decisions about their case. They often make plea agreements to get out of jail or to bring their case to an earlier conclusion. An increase in guilty pleas for longer sentences contributes to higher prison populations as we see in Oklahoma.
Suggestions Olson made to reduce lengthy pretrial incarceration include speedy trial reform requiring court proceedings to move along faster, discovery reform, text reminders from the court to reduce failures to appear, and providing counsel earlier in the process.
Also included in the study was a presentation by Christina Vitale, an attorney with Jackson Walker, LLP, revealing the immense costs of mistakes when they occur in the system. She said the U.S. Supreme Court reviewed two death penalty cases in the 2024-2025 term, the Oklahoma cases of Richard Glossip and Brenda Andrew. (See OK Policy’s Death Penalty Tracker)
Both were 2004 trials occurring in Oklahoma County, and both involved prosecutorial misconduct and error. Glossip was reversed over objections by recent Oklahoma District Attorneys after the attorney general had confessed error in the interest of justice. The Andrew case was remanded to the district court. She also referenced the Glynn Simmons case in Oklahoma in which Simmons was released on a finding of actual innocence after serving 48 years in prison. Simmons has reached a partial settlement of $7.15 million in his ongoing civil rights lawsuit.
Vitale proposed Conviction Review Units to offer an impartial and independent assessment of convictions by the state when appropriate, with the aim of reducing the necessity for extended and costly appeal processes. The state could create an independent agency or house the unit within the Attorney General’s Office or individual DA’s offices.
Stephen Saloom, Policy Director for (Un)Warranted, gave a valuable presentation on how court date reminders via texts, emails, and other methods can reduce costs compared to using arrest warrants for missed court dates. Currently a warrant is issued incurring time and cost for courts, sheriffs, other law enforcement, individuals and families. In most cases the case lingers until a chance encounter with law enforcement later, resulting in arrest on the old failure-to-appear warrant.
Also appearing was Emily Kamber, client relationship manager for Oklahoma VINE (Victim Information and Notification Everyday). This program is a 24-hour confidential service designed to provide victims of crime with timely and reliable information about offenders that could be easily adapted for use as court notifications for defendants to avoid failure to appear.
Also included was a presentation by the Oklahoma Department of Corrections on the aging prison population. DOC recommends a tweaking of the Oklahoma statute that could allow the aging prisoner population to be released slightly earlier than current law.
Sen. Rader seems committed to doing as much as he can during his tenure in the Senate to improve Oklahoma’s criminal justice system to make it fairer to victims, offenders, families, and taxpayers.
