OKLAHOMA CITY - The ACLU of Oklahoma’s Campaign for Smart Justice released key findings of a survey completed by EMC Research of likely voters in 2020 that demonstrates support for criminal justice reform remains high across the state, no matter political affiliation.
The survey focused on currently proposed legislation, including present support for State Question 780 which passed in 2016, support on making it retroactive, and the need for bail reform.
Oklahoma remains the number one state for rate of per capita incarceration. This requires serious and urgent action to implement data-driven solutions. These findings show that these policies are also supported by the majority of voters statewide, across party lines. We need legislators to listen to those voters and move forward with meaningful criminal legal reform this session.
Key findings of the report include:
Oklahoma voters are more likely to vote for a state legislator who supports reforming bail practices by a 50-point margin.
Almost 3-in-4 voters (73%) support reforming bail practices in Oklahoma, including abolishing for-profit bail.
A majority of November 2020 likely voters across the state would support a proposal to retroactively reclassify felony convictions for minor drug and property theft offenses. Eighty percent (80%) of likely voters statewide support this proposal with just 19% opposing.
Likely voters say they continue to support state question 780 (76% Support; 24% Oppose) at an even higher margin than when it was passed in 2016.
There was some encouraging momentum last week, with several criminal justice reform measures making it out of committees, but there has also been some uncertainty cast upon those actions as the legislature seems set on a blanket striking of all criminal justice reform bill titles, leaving the possibility for significant changes to the language before the bills are heard on the floor. While there is always room to eliminate carve-outs that make these reforms less accessible to all, with such support for these changes, there is no room to water down these bills that could result in a long-term change to the climbing number of people incarcerated in Oklahoma.
With the strong support criminal justice reform has among voters, we hope legislators will take the time to listen to those who choose them to represent their values instead of players in the building set on protecting their power and the status quo.
“We have seen reform come out of the legislature, but very little of it has touched the pre-trial system and the burden money bail places on those who can least afford it. What we have currently is a two-tiered system of justice. Money bail is supposed to be used as a mechanism to secure reappearance in court, but the reality is it often becomes a mechanism for detention. For the same crime, those who can afford to pay bail can buy their freedom, while those who can’t afford to pay their bail are stuck in a cage at the risk of losing their jobs, housing, and even custody of their children. This is all while being presumed innocent by the state. We see that two-tiered system again and again, especially on statutes that have been changed, like those affected by state question 780. Voters have shown up at the polls demanding real change, and the findings here are further evidence they want Oklahoma to move closer to a system that offers a real chance at justice and puts people first. But that kind of change only happens when leaders are bold enough to step up and take action,” says Nicole McAfee, Campaign Manager for the ACLU of Oklahoma’s Campaign for Smart Justice.
The report is viewable on the Campaign for Smart Justice website, www.YourDAOK.org.
The ACLU of Oklahoma’s Campaign for Smart Justice is an unprecedented, multi-year effort to reduce the Oklahoma jail and prison population by 50 percent and to combat racial disparities in the criminal justice system. We are fighting in the legislature, the courts, and in the streets to end mass incarceration.
For more information about the ACLU’s Campaign for Smart Justice:
https://www.acluok.org/en/campaigns/campaign-smart-justice
Date
Tuesday, February 26, 2019 - 4:45pm
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Mothers in jail are being torn from their families and losing contact with their children even before they have been convicted of a crime.
A report by the ACLU and Human Rights Watch, “‘You Miss So Much When You’re Gone’: The Lasting Harm of Jailing Mothers Before Trial in Oklahoma,” finds that jailing mothers even for short periods of time can result in overwhelming debt and loss of child custody. Based on more than 160 interviews with jailed and formerly jailed mothers, substitute caregivers, children, attorneys, service providers, child welfare employees, and advocates, this report documents the harms experienced by women with minor children jailed pretrial in Oklahoma – which incarcerates more women per capita than any other state.
An estimated 80 percent of women in jails in the United States are mothers with minor children and are more likely to be single parents or provide primary care to their children than jailed fathers. When moms are incarcerated, their children are more likely to end up in foster care.
When a mother is jailed even for a short time, the entire family is punished. Jail stays can snowball into long-term family separation as moms struggle to overcome obstacles to regain custody of their children and get back on their feet.
Women are the fastest growing correctional population nationwide. Local jails are a major driver of that growth. The number of women in jail has increased from approximately 8,000 in 1970 to 110,000 in 2014. And over the past 15 years, 99 percent of jail growth has been a product of pretrial incarceration. Women may have more trouble affording bail than men because of higher poverty levels and the gender pay gap.
Jails, intended to house people for much shorter periods of time, are often ill-equipped to facilitate family visits. Jail visitation policies in Oklahoma often bar children from in-person visitation or have eliminated in-person visitation altogether. Phone or video visitation may be cost-prohibitive and impractical for communicating with young children. Mothers described losing contact with their children for months and the stress of not knowing their children’s whereabouts while they were in jail. The anxiety is compounded in cases where authorities have failed to ensure that jailed parents are transported to family and juvenile court proceedings, and receive regular case updates. These failures can effectively prevent parents’ full participation in key child custody decisions.
Moms know that the cost of staying in jail and fighting charges could be losing custody of their children. Every day they are jailed, they are missing out on their children’s lives, and many have limited means of remaining in contact. This creates enormous pressure to plead guilty, even if they are wrongly charged.
Jailed and formerly jailed mothers told the ACLU and Human Rights Watch they accepted guilty pleas because they had childcare responsibilities, had limited contact with their children, and were not involved in custody decisions. For example, April, a 30-year-old mother of three, said that she pleaded guilty to a robbery, against the advice of counsel, in exchange for a 10-year suspended sentence. April said she could have fought the charge, but she decided she had to get back to her children: “I wasn’t thinking ‘Oh I am going to be a felon [for] the rest of my life,’ I was just thinking I have to take care of my kids.” She said she had no contact with her children while in jail and she was not notified by family court that the paternal grandparents of her eldest child were seeking custody. April told us that she did not find out that her child was now in the grandparents’ custody until after she was released from jail.
The struggle doesn’t end with release from jail. Mothers are often presented with exorbitant bills for their jail stay in addition to other fines and fees, making it harder for them to get back on their feet and establish the stability they need to regain custody of their children. Oklahoma imposes significant costs on criminal defendants and upon conviction, often including a bill for time spent in jail, any medical expenses incurred during that time, fines, fees, and court costs, supervision fees and other costs associated with probation or rehabilitation, and significant costs to reinstate drivers’ licenses if their license is suspended or revoked. When attempting to regain custody of children in the state’s care, costs can also accumulate for psychological evaluations, mandated drug testing, and child support, placing poor parents at a significant disadvantage when attempting to reunite with their children. Many told us the obstacles seemed insurmountable.
The ACLU and Human Rights Watch urge Oklahoma and other states to require the consideration of a defendant’s caretaker status when making determinations about bail and sentencing, expand alternatives to incarceration, facilitate the active involvement of incarcerated parents in their children’s lives and proceedings related to child custody, and substantially curb the imposition of fees and costs, which can impede reentry and parent-child reunification.
Date
Wednesday, September 26, 2018 - 4:30pm
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TO: Interested Parties
FROM: EMC Research
RE: Criminal Justice Reform Research – Oklahoma Statewide
DATE: June 7, 2018
In a recent Oklahoma Statewide survey conducted by EMC Research on behalf of the Oklahoma ACLU, a majority of November 2018 likely voters in the state would support a measure to retroactively reclassify felony convictions for minor drug and property theft offenses (59%support – 38% oppose – 3% noopinion). Support increases withpositive messaging, and is not significantly impacted by opposition messaging.
Survey results show there is majority support for State Question 788 that would legalize the sale, distribution, and possession of marijuana for medicinal purposes in the state (61% yes – 37% no – 2% no opinion).
Support for reclassification and other measures like medical marijuana is highest in the urban/suburban MSAs within the state, and there is a distinct difference in opinion on these issues between voters in the Tulsa MSA and those who live in the rest of the Tulsa media market.
Voters strongly agree that sentencing guidelines for juries should include options that keep defendants out of prison (82% support – 15% oppose – 4% no opinion), and that money is well spent on programs that aim to rehabilitate drug offenders, instead of imprisoning them. Voters are inherently concerned with the state budget – both its wasteful spending, and its inability to properly fund education and teachers. Budget considerations around the reclassification of felony convictions and the updating of sentencing guidelines appear to be a strong way to frame messages in support of criminal justice reform.
When it comes to fairly enforcing Oklahoma’s laws in sentencing for crimes like drug possession and minor property crime, voters are split in their trust of local District Attorneys and judges (42% judges – 41% local District Attorneys – 17% other/no opinion). Trust of District Attorneys appears to be highest among registered Republicans, and voters who identify as conservative in ideology. Liberal and moderate Oklahomans are more likely to trust judges and the court system when it comes to fair sentencing.
This memorandum is based on a telephone survey of likely November 2018 voters in the state of Oklahoma. It was conducted between February 13 – 18, 2018, and interviews were conducted by trained, professional interviewers, on both landlines and mobile phones. 500 interviews were conducted, with an overall margin of error of +4.4 percentage points. Results in District Attorney Districts 2, 6, 21, 22, and 23 have a margin of error of approximately ±12.6 percentage points.
Date
Friday, June 8, 2018 - 5:30pm
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