OKLAHOMA CITY (KOKH) — Oklahoma has the fourth-highest incarceration rate in the nation according to a new report from The Bureau of Justice.
According to the report, we have more Oklahomans going to prison at a higher rate than the national average, and Oklahomans for Criminal Justice Reform say the way to change that, is to modernize Oklahoma’s outdated criminal code,
“The last time Oklahoma’s Criminal Code was updated, the Backstreet Boys were a new band,” said Executive Director of Oklahomans for Criminal Justice Reform, Damion Shade, “We could create consistency in Oklahoma just by modernizing our Criminal Code, just by organizing it.”
Oklahoma lawmakers are working to update the code, Representative Mike Osburn (R- Edmond) Co-Authoring a bill (HB 1792) this year to do just that,
“What we’re trying to do with that is modernize our felony sentencing and so we want to do a couple of things, number one we want to group like crimes together in bundles and then secondly set some reasonable sentences/sentencing ranges that apply across the state,” Osburn said.
According to the report from the Bureau of Justice, Oklahoma incarcerates people for drug offenses at a rate about 70% higher than the national average,
“We are also 15 in prison admissions, which I think that math kind of tells us really the root of the problem,” said Shade.
With the prison population being so high, one would think there would be less crime on the streets, but advocates say that’s not the case,
“The sad thing about all of that incarceration is there’s no evidence that this extra incarceration is making us more safe,” Shade said, “All of the evidence actually points to the opposite conclusion. Oklahoma has higher rates of burglary and other property crimes, than states like Kansas.”
The high prison population is costing taxpayers millions of dollars according to Oklahomans for Criminal Justice Reform,
“It is an enormous burden to the Oklahoma economy to the Oklahoma taxpayer,” said Shade, “It costs about half a billion dollars a year that’s a billion with a B to pay for the state prison system.”
Advocates say if Oklahoma had a lower incarceration rate, the state would have more than $100 million to invest in things like education.
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