New legislation would give Oklahoma’s judges more discretion in sentencing certain nonviolent offenders. In some cases they will be able to depart from a mandatory minimum sentence. Previously, judges had no say in how long an offender would be behind bars.
Prisons across Oklahoma are over capacity and understaffed. That’s one of the reasons former state Representative Kris Steele introduced prison reform legislation back in 2012. Both the state House and Senate passed the measure but it was never fully funded, so most aspects of the bill went unimplemented.
Now, three years later, he’s finally seeing a tone shift at the Capitol.
“I think for a number of years, the mindset has been this is an issue that's just not worth understanding or paying attention to,” Steele said.
“And seeing the leaders that we have within our state saying, ‘You know what, there is a better way to deal with these nonviolent offenders,’ it's very encouraging.”
Steele currently serves as the executive director of TEEM, a prison reentry program in Oklahoma City. He works with nonviolent offenders on a daily basis. Even though he was no longer at the Capitol to see new legislation through, he says it’s just as sweet to watch Governor Mary Fallin sign the current prison reform measure -- known as the Justice Safety Valve Act.
“I think this gives us some momentum and a foundation and sort of a springboard to continue the conversation and to continue to develop policies that will be smart on crime.”
The new law takes effect this fall. It allows district judges to depart from mandatory minimum sentences for a number of nonviolent crimes.
Republican state Representative Pam Peterson authored the legislation and says not every crime deserves the maximum sentence.
“There might be a better alternative, a program like "Women in Recovery," drug court, or possibly just a lower sentence even,” Peterson said.
“If someone's facing 15 years, the judge may have that opportunity to say, "Well, I'll put you in for five." It's a big difference when you're paying over $20,000 a year in corrections for these individuals to be there.”
The law is not retroactive. Only offenders who commit crimes after November 1 could be eligible for judicial discretion. And it’s hard to say exactly how many criminals this could impact.
John Carl, who teaches criminology at the University of Oklahoma, says navigating away from mandatory minimum sentencing is a no-brainer.
“Personally, as a criminologist, I gotta tell ya, that makes more social policy sense anyway because most people age out of crime anyway. Even bad offenders, so most people, by the time they're about 45-50, we're just too fat, dumb and lazy to care, so we don't do a lot of crime anymore, you know?” Carl said.
It’s not an easy sell with everyone. Republican Representative Scott Biggs voted against the Justice Safety Valve Act in April. During debate on the House floor, the Chickasha Republican said allowing judicial discretion could put the public in danger.
“Nothing about this bill deals with first time drug offenders. This bill is targeted toward after former felony convictions for those repeat offenders who deserve to be put in prison for their 3rd, their 4th, their 5th felony convictions.”
Representative Peterson insists the law is not a free for all. Judges could only depart from sentencing in “unusual” circumstances.
While mandatory minimums apply to people with multiple felonies, Peterson says it’s easy for a drug offender to be charged with three or four crimes in one day.
“I've talked to judges who have said, ‘Oh, I wish I could've put this person in a community sentencing. I was bound by that mandatory minimum.’ That's what's kind of sad. Those are the people we're trying to capture in this bill,” Peterson said.
According to the Justice Policy Institute, an offender can attend rehab four or five times for less than it costs to send the same criminal to prison for one year. Since judges will decide on a case-by-case basis, there’s no way to predict how much money the state will save.
“We're making a big deal out of this, and it's a move in the right direction because we're stepping away from mandatory minimums in this state, which I think is a great thing, but it's probably not going to affect much, you know… it’s a relatively insignificant number,” Carl said.
That’s why Carl says even in the unlikely scenario judges were to depart from every possible mandatory minimum sentence under this new law, it could be years before taxpayers see any monetary benefit.
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