Incarceration is expensive in Oklahoma. The cost of our overcrowded prisons is projected to skyrocket in the next decade. The Department of Corrections requested $1.5 billion next year to address long-neglected repairs and to build a new prison to keep up with the…
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By:
Max West
July 18, 2018 // Updated: May 2, 2019
Max West is an OK Policy intern and a recent graduate of Rogers State University with a degree in Public Administration. He will begin law school at Oklahoma City University School of Law this fall.
Oklahoma’s 2018 primary election was…
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We’ve been talking a lot about occupational licensing lately and that’s because it’s a big deal for economic opportunity. Requiring a state license to practice certain occupations began with good intentions – to protect the public from the harm that…
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Last fall, we told you about the work of the Oklahoma Occupational Licensing Task Force, a group of leaders from the Legislature, state agencies, and private businesses that formed in 2016 to study occupational licensing in the state. The task…
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Let’s say you want to change careers. Or maybe you’re a recent graduate thinking about what you’d like to do as you enter the workforce. Like an increasing number of American workers, you might find that stiff requirements to get…
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Sonya (her name has been changed due to the sensitive nature of her story) grew up as a child of incarcerated parents and went on to be Valedictorian of her high school class, student council president, and drum major of the…
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Camille Landry is a writer, activist, and social justice advocate who lives in Oklahoma City. This post is part of our “Neglected Oklahoma” series, which tells the stories of Oklahomans in situations where the basic necessities of life are hard…
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By:
Ethan Rex
March 16, 2016 // Updated: May 2, 2019
Ethan Rex is an OK Policy intern. He is a sociology senior at the University of Tulsa and a research assistant with Women in Recovery, an alternative to incarceration for eligible women convicted of non-violent, drug-related offenses
If a problem…
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By:
Carly Putnam
July 16, 2015 // Updated: November 17, 2020
Finding affordable housing is one of the most difficult barriers faced by Oklahomans with a felony conviction in their past. Yet Oklahoma's major public housing assistance programs frequently exclude people with felony records, and even those who have been arrested without being charged, from getting help.
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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…
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