The governor’s FY 2021 executive budget is attached below. Gov. Kevin Stitt kicked off the 2020 legislative session last week by delivering his second State of the State address, discussing education, health care, the disagreement with tribes on casino gambling and criminal justice reform. “Let me get right to the point. The state of our […]
criminal justice reform
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Oklahoma justice
Oklahomans continue pushing for legislation to lower the state’s prison population and prevent people from entering into the criminal system in the first place. Last year, Oklahoma saw the largest mass commutation in the nation’s history with nearly 500 people being released early from prisons in November. Damion Shade, Oklahoma Policy Institute criminal justice policy […]
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Sentencing reform
Criminal justice reform advocates want to amend the Oklahoma Constitution to prohibit sentence enhancements based on previous felonies for nonviolent offenders. The measure would also allow nonviolent offenders serving enhanced sentences to seek a modification in court. “A former conviction for one or more felonies shall not be used to enhance the statutorily allowable range […]
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Chicken-Fried News: Broken justice
Remember in 2016 when Oklahoma overwhelmingly voted in favor of State Question 780, which allows the more than 60,000 Oklahomans convicted of simple drug possession to seek parole and expunge felony drug possession? It wasn’t until 2019 that Gov. Kevin Stitt retroactively signed the state question into law. The state district attorney’s association and local […]
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Powerful women
Before flipping Oklahoma’s 5th Congressional district, Kendra Horn served as executive director of Sally’s List. She helped recruit and train women who considered running for elected positions before jumping into the mix herself. “Sometimes you have to take your own advice,” she previously told Oklahoma Gazette. “I was hearing woman after woman tell me that […]
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Retroactive law
Nearly a thousand Oklahomans will be released from prison early — potentially in time for the holidays. Gov. Kevin Stitt signed a bill into law that makes State Question 780, which reclassified simple drug possessions from felonies to misdemeanors, retroactive. Department of Corrections (DOC) must provide a list of eligible inmates to the Pardon and […]
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Reform justice
Criminal justice reform is a major agenda topic in this year’s legislative session. A myriad of bills that would implement deep changes to the system have been introduced, and though many were left for dead, several still in the process seem likely to pass. Former Republican state Speaker of the House Kris Steele is now […]
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Head start
Kendra Horn pulled off a surprising upset in November after defeating incumbent Rep. Steve Russell for the state’s 5th Congressional District. Horn defeated Russell on Nov. 6, making her the first female Democratic member of Congress in state history. “I think we won because we met people where they were, because we went out to […]
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Chicken-Fried News: Justice two-step
During the same Legislative session that Oklahoma made advancements on criminal justice reform to reduce the state’s overcrowded prisons; it took another step backwards. Gov. Mary Fallin signed seven criminal justice reform bills — many of which reduced sentences for nonviolent offenders and those convicted of drug possession — in April. Voters asked for many […]
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Advocacy alert
After spending nearly a year campaigning on the effects of tough-on-crime policies that have packed the state’s prisons and jails to the bursting point, largely with Oklahomans suffering from addiction and mental health problems, Oklahomans for Criminal Justice Reform (OCJR) leaders felt confident that the two ballot measures they put before state voters in the […]