Few people attend Oklahoma lawmaker’s sentencing reform hearing

OKLAHOMA CITY — The Bureau of Justice Statistics found that Oklahoma has the 4th highest incarceration rate in the country.

Rep. Danny Williams, a Republican from the 28th^This The district held a workshop in the state capital to discuss ways to rethink prison sentences.

“If I hadn’t been forgiven in my life, I wouldn’t be sitting here today,” Williams said.

However, during this study, the messages designed for MPs to hear did not reach a wide audience.

Only Williams and Rep. JJ Humphrey (R-District 19) were in attendance when Colleen McCarty, Executive Director of the Tulsa-based nonprofit organization Oklahoma Appleseed Center for Crime and Justice, presented her report.

“You don’t see many of my colleagues here,” Williams said, looking at the empty chairs. “This is not a trendy issue, this is not a politically positive issue, this is hard work.”

When asked why Oklahoma tends to impose longer sentences (studies show they are getting longer), McCarty said he believes the state relies too much on prisons rather than funding treatment options.

“Incarceration only works for a certain type of criminal, the type of criminal that we really fear, that we need to separate from society for whatever reason,” he said. “Most of them are not criminals. “Most people need help.”

Some of the growing prison population has contributed to an increase in parole denials, McCarty said.

Some of their suggestions include:

• Adding alternatives to the five-member Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board in the event of a tie, rejection or absenteeism. Currently a tie vote results in rejection.
• Lawmakers made the board member position full-time and salaried. He said this allows members to focus on cases and think them through.
• Enacting a “Second Look” law for crimes committed as a juvenile or young adult. This allows the sentence to be reviewed after the prisoner has been in prison for a certain period of time.

Six states have adopted similar laws.
A few more MPs attended a later part of the proceedings, but the meeting was still empty compared to other hearings 2 News has covered recently.

The study also addressed the lack of treatment facilities for inmates; He added that the current majority is run by non-profit organizations, not the state.

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