Topic: Justice System

What Fallin’s goals for state government tell us about Oklahoma

By: Gene Perry
February 24, 2015 // Updated: May 2, 2019
During her 2015 State of the State Address, Governor Fallin announced a new state website that would identify measurable objectives for state government and track how Oklahoma is doing at reaching these objectives over time. The website looks at 160… Read more [More...]

Pass common sense sentencing reforms now (Guest post: Sean Wallace)

By: Guest
February 19, 2015 // Updated: May 2, 2019
Sean Wallace is the Executive Director of the Oklahoma Corrections Professionals, an association representing employees of the Department of Corrections. During her 2015 inaugural address, Governor Mary Fallin told the crowd assembled on the Capitol steps that one of the… Read more [More...]

Priorities for Oklahoma lawmakers in 2015

By: Gene Perry
February 2, 2015 // Updated: May 2, 2019
Oklahoma’s 2015 Legislative session kicks off today with a State of the State address from Governor Mary Fallin. OK Policy and the Together Oklahoma coalition have identified six priorities for the coming session that are practical, politically achievable steps to… Read more [More...]

Oklahoma ‘one lawsuit away’ from a federal takeover (Steve Lewis Capitol Updates)

By: Steve Lewis
January 23, 2015 // Updated: May 2, 2019
Steve Lewis served as Speaker of the Oklahoma House of Representatives from 1989-1991. He currently practices law in Tulsa and represents clients at the Capitol. You can sign up on his website to receive the Capitol Updates newsletter by email.… Read more [More...]

Every sentence is a life sentence: 3 barriers to life after prison

By: Gene Perry
January 21, 2015 // Updated: May 2, 2019
Criminal justice reform is in the air for the upcoming legislative session. For more than a decade, experts and advocates have warned of a mounting incarceration crisis that has created huge costs for taxpayers while, perversely, possibly increasing crime. For… Read more [More...]

Oklahoma has already created a great model for criminal justice reform

By: Carly Putnam
January 15, 2015 // Updated: May 2, 2019
It is a truth universally acknowledged that Oklahoma is badly in need of criminal justice system overhaul. The state regularly tops the charts for incarceration – and a lot of that is because of drug offenses. One in three people… Read more [More...]

We must move from angst to action in the wake of Brown and Garner deaths (Guest post: Hannibal B. Johnson)

By: Guest
December 22, 2014 // Updated: May 2, 2019
Hannibal B. Johnson is a Harvard Law School graduate who teaches at Oklahoma State University and the University of Oklahoma. His several books include Tulsa’s Historic Greenwood District, Black Wall Street, Up from the Ashes, and Acres of Aspiration. A… Read more [More...]

Stars could be aligning for criminal justice reform in Oklahoma

By: Steve Lewis
December 5, 2014 // Updated: May 2, 2019
Steve Lewis served as Speaker of the Oklahoma House of Representatives from 1989-1991. He currently practices law in Tulsa and represents clients at the Capitol. You can sign up on his website to receive the Capitol Updates newsletter by email.… Read more [More...]

Exonerating the wrongly-convicted should be a shared priority (Guest Post: Lawrence Hellman)

By: Guest
October 23, 2014 // Updated: May 2, 2019
Lawrence K. Hellman is Dean Emeritus and Professor of Law at Oklahoma City University School of Law. He serves as executive director of The Oklahoma Innocence Project. It is no longer contestable: innocent people sometimes get convicted of serious crimes.… Read more [More...]

Juvenile justice, child welfare, suicide get attention (Steve Lewis Capitol Updates)

By: Steve Lewis
October 17, 2014 // Updated: May 2, 2019
Steve Lewis served as Speaker of the Oklahoma House of Representatives from 1989-1991. He currently practices law in Tulsa and represents clients at the Capitol. You can sign up on his website to receive the Capitol Updates newsletter by email.… Read more [More...]