A little over six years ago, Oklahoma voters passed State Questions 780 and 781, launching major reform in our state’s criminal justice system by reclassifying certain crimes and redirecting low-level, non-violent criminal offenders from prison to diversion programs. The impact on our economy and workforce has been notable.
SQ 780, titled the Oklahoma Smart Justice Reform Act, reduced simple drug possession and low-level property crimes from felonies to misdemeanors, eliminating the prison sentence requirement that most felony convictions carry. SQ 781 directed Oklahoma’s Office of Management and Enterprise Services to allocate money saved from incarcerating fewer people due to the implementation of SQ 780, into diversion and treatment programs across the state. Data collected since the passing of SQ 780 shows that its measures have decreased Oklahoma’s prison population and strengthened our state’s economy and workforce.
According to calculation reports from OMES, SQ 780 and 781 have saved Oklahoma’s Department of Corrections over $47 million since 2020. Since FY 2018 in Oklahoma County alone, the number of people who ended their court process without a prison sentence to DOC dropped by 39%. Many of these folks, more than 900 people, were able to receive mental health and substance abuse treatment along with the job training and career development services that diversion programs offer. The fact that these individuals were spared from having a felony on their record allows them to continue to contribute to the labor market for years to come. Moreover, diversion programs like those seen at TEEM, Drug Court, Community Sentencing, and ReMerge, train participants for jobs in the fields of construction, information technology and manufacturing – industries that are in high demand in Oklahoma.
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