Oklahoma voters accomplished remarkable feats this past decade. Voters saved taxpayers nearly a billion dollars in state prison costs by passing common-sense reforms. The 2016 ballot measure called State Question 780 favored treatment over incarceration for those struggling with addiction. This same voter initiative later enabled the single largest one-day commutation in American history. In 2018, Oklahoma voters decriminalized medical marijuana helping raise more than 678 million dollars of revenue statewide. Marijuana enforcement is still a significant issue in Oklahoma, but fewer local police are being diverted from violent crime to manage low-level marijuana offenses. Oklahomans for Criminal Justice Reform (OCJR) and our coalition partners helped provide critical facts and data to each of these campaigns.
In 2020, Oklahoma voters approved Medicaid expansion improving healthcare access for more than 200K Oklahomans. New federal Medicaid dollars have created opportunities for both crime reduction and diversion. The expansion has fundamentally improved pretrial services in numerous counties and provided billions to help expand treatment access. Oklahoma voters have repeatedly moved this state in directions that previously seemed impossible. When Oklahomans join their voices, their coalitions, and their resources they rarely fail to affect change. Supporting a non-profit organization like Oklahomans For Criminal Justice Reform is a way to show up for communities in need across this state.
Join and support a coalition dedicated to a better state
Oklahoma has an incredible array of bipartisan groups working in various coalitions focused on designing a criminal legal system that actually works. OCJR is committed to centering the voices of system-impacted Oklahomans in this coalition policy design process. OCJR seeks data-driven interventions grounded in the lived experience of people who’ve felt the system’s harms up close. The goal is simple: evidence-based solutions for safer communities.
A donation to OCJR supports innovative research products like the recently published brief “The Hidden Crisis: How Poverty Drives Crime in Rural Oklahoma.” This brief highlights the significant decline of violent crime across most of Oklahoma during the past decade, but it reveals a troubling rise in rural violence and crime. Violent crime has fallen 11% in Tulsa and 21% in OKC since 2018, but there are small towns in Oklahoma that have seen an increase in violent crime by nearly 35% in that same period.
OCJR’s research identified nine rural Oklahoma communities experiencing a homicide rate over double the Oklahoma average. The homicide rate in these nine small towns is higher than in Oklahoma City. Perhaps most distressing, in these nine rural communities around 66% of the violent crimes go unsolved on average. This means the majority of the victims of the most serious crimes in these rural communities rarely see justice. Locating these disparities is the first step to resolving them. OCJR is collaborating on a partnership with public and private stakeholders to develop innovative pilot initiatives to help reduce rural violence and combat rural crime.
Join and support a coalition empowering working families
In April 2024, OCJR partnered with the Vera Institute For Justice, Prison Fellowship Ministries, the Arnall Family Foundation, and over 40 business and community leaders from across the state to convene a second chances roundtable. This event was hosted by Governor Kevin Stitt and culminated with recommendations to improve access to employment and housing for the 1.2 Million Oklahomans with a criminal conviction. Next year this second chances coalition will continue to focus on eliminating criminal court fines and fees, providing better workforce opportunities for those returning home from incarceration, and modern solutions for the crisis of affordable housing and chronic homelessness. OCJR is also partnered with the coalition implementing Oklahoma’s Clean Slate law which is estimated to lower barriers to housing, employment, and education for over 100 K system-impacted Oklahomans.
In 2025, OCJR will expand this economic empowerment agenda in partnership with state policymakers and business leaders to advocate for improved economic opportunity for thousands of justice-involved families. A donation to OCJR is an investment in a campaign to improve economic opportunity for all Oklahomans.
It’s an investment in modern data-driven strategies to reduce crime and promote evidence-based diversion to keep families together and change lives. Whether it’s a small dollar donation or a larger contribution, every donation provides OCJR the resources to shape policy, leverage expertise, and educate the public on more effective responses to crime. Regular Oklahoma voters just showing up and supporting organizations like OCJR makes a real difference in this state.
