By:
Ashley Harvey
September 18, 2019 // Updated: September 18, 2019
Oklahoma should take advantage of declining youth incarceration to reinvest in services — such as therapy, substance use treatment, education, and family supports — for justice-involved youth.
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By:
Steve Lewis
September 16, 2019 // Updated: September 16, 2019
At some point it would seem to be of no benefit to the state or to offenders to keep them in debt under threat of arrest and jail.
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By:
Ryan Gentzler
September 11, 2019 // Updated: September 11, 2019
Despite these promising developments, black and brown youth are still disproportionately represented in Oklahoma’s juvenile justice system.
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By:
Damion Shade
August 29, 2019 // Updated: August 30, 2019
Anecdotal stories about crime should not be the basis of policy, and Oklahoma should continue to pursue evidence-based criminal justice reform to reduce our state’s expensive incarceration crisis.
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See all of our end of session round-ups: Taxes | Budget | Economic Opportunity | Health Care | Education | Criminal Justice
Oklahoma incarcerates its citizens at a higher rate than any other place on Earth. If Oklahoma does not…
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By:
Paul Shinn
May 29, 2019 // Updated: July 2, 2019
Overall, it's best to think of this budget as a second step on what needs to be a long journey. When adjusted for inflation, this budget is still 10.1 percent below the FY 2009 level. Over half of state agencies still have lower budgets than they did in FY 2009 without accounting for inflation.
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HB 1269 is a positive step for justice reform in Oklahoma, but a recent amendment will complicate the bill’s resentencing process and create financial hurdles that will lessen the positive impact of retroactivity.
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Stable employment is the single biggest factor in determining whether Oklahomans released from prison are likely to re-offend. Unfortunately, the unemployment rate for justice-involved Oklahomans is five times higher than the statewide average. Workforce training in prisons is one of…
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Thousands of Oklahomans who have not been convicted of a crime are locked in county jails across the state because they can’t afford to buy their freedom from a bondsman. How long you stay in jail often depends on where…
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Nearly 30 percent of the American workforce needs a license to do their job, so we should carefully examine the rules about who can, and can’t, get an occupational license. This is especially important for the justice-involved, a group that faces multiple barriers (including licensing restrictions) to employment and economic stability.
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