Oklahoma

Background

In 2010, Oklahoma’s violent crime rate was high and had remained relatively unchanged since 2000. Further, more than half of people leaving prison were being released without supervision. The state’s prison population had grown faster than the state’s resident population over the prior decade, and during that same period corrections appropriations had increased 30 percent. From 2011 to 2012, the CSG Justice Center worked with Oklahoma state leaders to develop data-driven policy options designed to address these issues.

Policies

Signed into law in 2012, Oklahoma’s Justice Reinvestment legislation, House Bill 3052, established a new state-funded grant program to assist local law enforcement agencies in implementing data-driven strategies to reduce violent crime. The legislation also instituted a presentence risk and needs screening process to help guide sentencing decisions related to treatment and supervision; mandated supervision for all adults released from prison; and created more cost-efficient and meaningful responses to supervision violations. To that end, Oklahoma implemented multiple policy and practice changes to improve their justice system.¹

Outcomes

Oklahoma awarded more than $10 million to 46 local law enforcement agencies across the state between 2012 and 2018 to help implement new or existing data-driven policing strategies. The grant program prioritized work that targets 5 key areas related to preventing violent crime: (1) implementing evidence-based policing strategies; (2) increasing technological capacity to support crime prevention; (3) improving analytical capacity; (4) engaging with community partners; and (5) providing victim services. The Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigations reported a 21.6 percent reduction in crime in the target area, which was far greater than the 6.5 percent decrease in crime for Oklahoma City overall between 2013 and 2016.²

For more information, see Justice Reinvestment in Oklahoma.

JRI-Driven Policies and Practices

Background

In 2016, the Oklahoma Justice Reform Task Force, established through an Executive Order signed by then-Governor Mary Fallin, was charged with examining the state’s justice system and developing policy recommendations to alleviate prison overcrowding and reduce Oklahoma’s incarceration rate while improving public safety.³ At that time, Oklahoma had the second highest overall imprisonment rate and the highest female imprisonment rate in the country.⁴ With technical assistance from the Crime and Justice Institute and The Pew Charitable Trusts, the Task Force spent six months analyzing Oklahoma’s sentencing and corrections data and studying evidence-based criminal justice programs, policies, and practices employed in other states.⁵

Policies

The Task Force developed policy recommendations to ensure certainty in sentencing and control corrections costs while keeping public safety paramount.⁶ In order to prioritize prison space for people who committed serious and violent offenses, penalties for a number of low-level property offenses were adjusted, sentencing enhancements for people who committed nonviolent offenses were revised, and parole eligibility was expanded, and some barriers to successful reentry were removed.⁷ Between May of 2017 and April of 2018, Governor Mary Fallin signed 10 bills into law advancing the recommendations of the Task Force.⁸ To achieve the goals of the bills, Oklahoma implemented multiple policy and practice changes.

Outcomes

Oklahoma’s policy changes to address rapid and unsustainable prison growth trends—while reducing recidivism and enhancing public safety—prioritized prison beds for people convicted of serious and violent offenses, aligned community supervision with best practices, and removed barriers to successful reentry. These policy changes were accompanied by a $12 million investment in corrections and treatment programs in the 2018 budget.⁹

JRI-Driven Policies and Practices

For more information, see Justice Reinvestment Initiative (JRI): Oklahoma.

¹ The Council of State Governments Justice Center, 2023, Justice Reinvestment in Oklahoma, New York, NY: The Council of State Governments Justice Center, retrieved May 19, 2023 from https://csgjusticecenter.org/projects/justice-reinvestment/past-states/oklahoma/.

² The Council of State Governments Justice Center, “Spotlight: How Justice Reinvestment Helps Law Enforcement in Oklahoma,” October 4, 2019, New York, NY: The Council of State Governments Justice Center, retrieved May 19, 2023 from https://csgjusticecenter.org/2019/10/04/spotlight-how-justice-reinvestment-helps-law-enforcement-in-oklahoma/.

³ Crime and Justice Institute, 2018, Oklahoma’s 2017 Criminal Justice Policy Solutions, Boston, MA: Crime and Justice Institute, retrieved May 19, 2023 from http://www.crj.org/assets/2018/10/CJI_Oklahoma%E2%80%99_2018_Criminal-_Justice_Policy_Solutions_UPDATED-20181009.pdf.

⁴ Crime and Justice Institute, 2018, Oklahoma’s 2018 Criminal Justice Policy Solutions, Boston, MA: Crime and Justice Institute, retrieved May 19, 2023 from http://www.crj.org/assets/2018/10/CJI_Oklahoma%E2%80%99_2018_Criminal-_Justice_Policy_Solutions_UPDATED-20181009.pdf.  

⁵ Ibid., 3.

⁶ Crime and Justice Institute, 2018, Oklahoma’s 2017 Criminal Justice Policy Solutions.

⁷ Crime and Justice Institute, 2018, Oklahoma’s 2018 Criminal Justice Policy Solutions, 10, 11, 9.

⁸ Ibid.

⁹ Leah Samuel and Molly Robustelli, Oklahoma’s 2018 Criminal Justice Policy Solutions: Data-Driven Policies for Better Public Safety (Boston, MA: Crime and Justice Institute, 2018), https://www.cjinstitute.org/publication/oklahomas-2018-criminal-justice-policy-solutions/.