{"id":16381,"date":"2023-12-08T16:53:30","date_gmt":"2023-12-08T22:53:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/norwoodlegal.com\/?p=16381"},"modified":"2024-12-17T13:25:13","modified_gmt":"2024-12-17T19:25:13","slug":"justice-reforms","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/norwoodlegal.com\/justice-reforms\/","title":{"rendered":"OK lawmakers are reversing key justice reforms passed by voters"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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By G.W. Schulz<\/span><\/p>

State lawmakers in Oklahoma City seeking to curtail the wishes expressed by voters in a ballot measure seven years ago have succeeded with the passage of a new law. State Question 780 first passed overwhelmingly by voters in 2016. The measure came in response to the state\u2019s prison system exploding in size partly as a result of America\u2019s long-running war on drugs. Oklahoma regularly ranked among the top states for the number of people incarcerated. Voters decided the costs to communities and taxpayers of a bloated criminal justice system had grown too high.<\/span><\/p>

Kris Steele, a former Republican speaker of the Oklahoma House of Representatives, said then about the measure:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

\u201cOne in three people in Oklahoma’s prisons need mental health treatment, and one quarter of inmates are serving time for a nonviolent drug offense. It is time to take a smarter approach to public safety by increasing access to programs that address the root causes of crime.\u201d<\/span><\/p>

Believing it was time for meaningful reform, <\/span>voters passed SQ 780<\/span><\/a>, which reclassified certain drug and property crimes from severe felonies to milder misdemeanors. But according to the Oklahoma Policy Institute, certain lawmakers have wanted to legislate over the wishes of voters since then. <\/span>House Bill 2153<\/span><\/a> was passed in May and sponsored by Rep. Ross Ford (R-Broken Arrow) and Sen. Michael Bergstrom (R-Adair).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

It unwinds SQ 780 by reclassifying multiple drug possessions back to a felony from a less-serious misdemeanor, and it sends defendants away to prison for possibly years. On the third possession charge, the individual faces a minimum of 30 days in jail. <\/span>According to the policy institute<\/span><\/a>:<\/span><\/p>

\u201cThis runs contrary to a key provision of SQ 780 \u2013 the most significant criminal justice reform in the last decade. As a result, our friends and neighbors who need access to treatment will instead help fill Oklahoma\u2019s prisons, which is the opposite of what voters indicated when they passed SQ 780.\u201d<\/span><\/p>