By:
Cole Allen
March 19, 2025 // Updated: March 19, 2025
Once again, the Legislature is ready to work against itself when it comes to Oklahoma’s criminal justice system. The Legislature has advanced some bills that will remove barriers placed on justice-involved people. However, it has also entertained a number of…
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By:
Cole Allen
July 9, 2024 // Updated: July 9, 2024
While the Oklahoma Legislature passed some important measures in 2024, there were also disconcerting attempts to undo years of improvements. Some of these harmful measures were stopped, but many positive changes also failed to progress. If Oklahoma truly wants an effective criminal justice system, legislators must protect and build on the progress made over the years.
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By:
Cole Allen
March 22, 2024 // Updated: October 15, 2024
Some lawmakers and others have shared OSBI data purporting to show a dramatic increase in larceny, shoplifting, or other property crimes. OSBI has said those spikes were created by changes in data reporting, not increases in crime.
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By:
David Gateley
September 4, 2023 // Updated: September 4, 2023
During Oklahoma’s 2023 legislative session, lawmakers made some positive improvements in the state’s criminal legal system, including investments into diversion programs and significant reforms around court fines and fees. While these changes are commendable, they are only the beginning of…
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By:
David Gateley
February 22, 2023 // Updated: February 22, 2023
Over the last six years, Oklahoma has seen a marked reduction in the number of people going to prison, with the largest reductions coming from drug convictions thanks to recent voter-approved justice reform efforts. However, there’s more lawmakers can do.…
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There remains much work ahead as Oklahoma still incarcerates more people than almost anywhere in the world. As such, lawmakers missed opportunities to help curb the state’s ongoing incarceration crisis or make much-needed investments in county-level mental health and substance abuse services.
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The state should continue reducing the number of people incarcerated in Oklahoma across the board by extending the early pandemic efforts, like expanding commutations and making permanent efforts that reduce arrests for certain non-violent offenses. These efforts are not only good for Oklahomans and public safety, but they serve the needs of public health as well.
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Even after progress, Oklahoma still ranks third in overall incarceration, with more than 21,000 people in state custody and another 26,000 under some form of supervision.
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Though the Legislature has again failed to fund the treatments that SQ 781 statutorily required, we know that justice reform has measurably reduced the prison population and that mental health remains severely underfunded.
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Criminal justice reform was a lower profile priority in Oklahoma’s 2021 legislative session compared to previous years. Despite this fact, several significant reforms aimed at increasing economic opportunity for justice-involved families were signed into law.
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