By:
Damion Shade
October 16, 2019 // Updated: October 21, 2019
Reform of the state's criminal code is long overdue — as the code is a major driver of Oklahoma’s expensive incarceration crisis.
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For justice-involved youth, current systems can remove them from educational opportunities, family, and community during a critical time in their lives, often severing their link to meaningful relationships and inadvertently further embedding them into a life of crime.
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The justice system will continue to be unfair to people of color unless lawmakers take deliberate steps to fix it. Closing the gap in these disparities for youth is necessary for long-term justice reform in our state.
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By:
Damion Shade
October 1, 2019 // Updated: October 2, 2019
Oklahoma must invest in a comprehensive treatment plan for the growing hepatitis C crisis in our prisons before the cost of treatment and the human toll of this crisis become unmanageable.
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By:
Ashley Harvey
September 18, 2019 // Updated: October 12, 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: October 12, 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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