SQ 805 Supporters Call For Change To State Constitution

Supporters of a ballot measure that would change the state Constitution in the name of criminal justice reform rallied Thursday at the state Capitol. 

They said they want to dispel what they call myths about State Question 805. 

Backers said State Question 805 would reduce the prison population saving taxpayers millions of dollars. But opponents wonder, at what cost?

“Our prisons are overcrowded,” Said Kris Steele of Oklahomans for Criminal Justice Reform. “And our state currently spends well over a half a billion dollars a year to incarcerate non-violent offenders.”

Backers of State Question 805 said it would not allow judges to consider previous convictions when sentencing for non-violent crimes. 

“State Question 805 does not apply to anyone who is convicted of a violent crime or a sex crime,” Steele said.

Opponents said it depends of what your definition of a violent crime is.

“There are nearly 600 felonies including all the domestic violence, domestic violence by strangulation, domestic violence in the presence of a child,” said former Gov. Frank Keating. “They all can’t be enhanced. In other words, a judge can’t take somebody who has had 15 convictions and punish them any differently than the first conviction.”

Backers said domestic abuse with strangulation, for example, could still be charged as domestic abuse with attempt to do bodily harm.

“Which remains a violent crime subject to enhancements. None of that changes under State Question 805. That is a fear tactic used by those opposed to 805 to try to scare people. All of the safeguards remain in place,” Steele said.

“To let those people repeat and repeat, repeat, whether it’s sale of drugs or whether it’s burglary of your house and it’s always a first offense, is a radical departure from good common sense law enforcement,” Keating said. “If this is in the Constitution, the criminals will laugh all the way to their next party.”

State Question 805 will be on the ballot on Nov. 3.