In response to the passage of House Bill 3052 by the Oklahoma State Senate, the American Civil Liberties Union of Oklahoma released the following statement:
April 26, 2012
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Ryan Kiesel, Executive Director, ACLU of OK, 405.524.8511, rkiesel@acluok.org
“Before HB 3052 arrived in the Oklahoma State Senate it offered modest reforms to our broken criminal justice system and overincarceration crisis and represented a promising first step towards meaningful reforms in the future. However, after a Senate committee stripped the bill of important provisions that would protect the people of Oklahoma and their tax dollars, the bill is reform in name only. The lack of political resolve to tackle one of our state’s most pressing issues is distressing. There will be real and long-term consequences for the people of Oklahoma if the legislature continues to kick the can down the road in the name of political expediency. We strongly urge the Oklahoma House of Representatives to reject the Senate’s amendments and work towards actual reforms before the session ends in May.”
All comments attributable to Ryan Kiesel, Executive Director of the ACLU of Oklahoma
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