OKPOLICY.ORG
“Today, some district attorneys and their allies are trying to discredit the progress made by saying there are no savings to reinvest in alternatives and treatment. The money is there, but it is unfortunately being spent on continuing to incarcerate people who battle addiction. As a former speaker of the Oklahoma House, I can say with certainty that a law isn’t much of a law if the people tasked with implementing it don’t believe in it. As long as prosecutors keep sending people to prison for drug possession, reinvestments in treatment that voters demanded won’t happen.”
-Oklahomans for Criminal Justice Reform chairman Kris Steele, writing about how district attorneys in Oklahoma have continued to pursue the harshest possible sentences they can for drug possession, against the will of the voters and at huge taxpayer expense [NewsOK]
