The Oklahoma City School of Law hosted its 3rd Criminal Justice Reform Conference on Jan. 21. It focused on “Expanding the focus of criminal justice reform.” The seven-hour-long event featured multiple round tables that included judges, officers, lawyers, officials, and civic leaders.
The topics included recidivism, diversion, policing, and activism in the realm of criminal justice. One of the goals of the forum was to bring stakeholders together to solve the issue.
Najja Morris-Frazier the LEAD national support Bureau Director explained how her organization is tackling recidivism. The acronym in the organization’s title stands for law enforcement-assisted diversion. One of the Seattle-based organizations’ major goals is to prevent recidivism.
“Our primary concern is their health and wellness and keeping them alive. If they are not alive, they will not be able to make that change,” said Morris-Frazier.
For treatment to be successful Morris-Frazier said that people must feel confident, “Not everyone is ready at the right exact moment to go get treatment.” Morris-Frazier said that building relationships is the key to solving the problem. She said LEAD does not judge and is ready to help individuals make good decisions in their lives.
Morris-Frazier said that many officers who enter the force to do good become frustrated due to the problem of recidivism.
Connie Schlittler, the Vice President of Growth at North Care, explained that part of the problem is that people do not know these services exist. North Care is a community behavioral health agency based in Oklahoma City that provides services for addiction and mental illnesses.
Schlittler says that North Care patients often say they had not realized that services were available and that they would not need to pay for them.
Schlittler said that some people who do not do well in post-arrest programs would have done better in pre-arrest programs.
“The first-time offenders are often the ones we deal with later on,” said Wade Gourley, the Oklahoma City Police Chief. He said that people are passionate and excited to solve the issues but stressed when we have “so many things out there it starts getting watered down.”
“The officers go out, they take a call, issue a citation, they release them, and they don’t show up to court,” said Gourley. He said that first-time offenders are the most likely to show up to court.
Jim Anderson, an Undersheriff in Oklahoma City, said that we need legislative change to solve the issue.
“We live in such a litigious society, the guys who are taking calls are afraid they are going to make a mistake,” said Anderson.
Brendan Cox, the Director of Policing Strategies for LEAD, said that officers need to be part of the community.
OKCPD Major Ryan Boxwell said that more communication between stakeholder groups is needed to solve these problems. “We have to have more talks like this to make sure people are talking the same language,” said Boxwell.
OKCPD Major Larry Withrow said recidivism is a big problem, especially with homeless populations.
OKCPD Major Kreg Kettler said a major problem in his district is the homeless population committing crimes.
Municipal Court Judge Philippa James said that people who are chronically homeless are so for a reason. “It’s not like as soon as you get in a program, you’re going to be successful. It’s not like that,” said James.
Kettler said that most cases can be solved by the police and do not necessarily need to escalate further. He said police officers that have just started the job believe they solve every with handcuffs. “As we learn our jobs that is not always the solution to every problem,” said Kettler.
James said that her court was taking steps to end recidivism. She said that repeat offenders often have mental health and substance abuse issues.
James said that if someone with an outstanding warrant enters the Oklahoma City Municipal Court, they will be helped and not placed in handcuffs. “We do not arrest people who come into our building because they are trying to put their lives together,” said James.
James said her court is taking big steps to help individuals pull their lives together. She says suspending court debts takes a burden off individuals and helps them put their lives together.
“Police officers should not be arresting people for a 30-year-old warrant,” said James. She said that cases more than 10-years old are being purged on a weekly basis.
Boxwell said that warrants not being addressed are situational and primarily because of manpower issues.
“If someone hasn’t been stopped by an officer for 30-years that tells me that they’re not a repeat offender,” said Kettler.
Drug Court Judge Kevin Stoner said that preventing the district attorney from being the gatekeeper of diversion programs would help solve recidivism.
“You have to come into these situations with a sense of moral humility. Create relations, talk to them with dignity and respect. When you treat people well, they stop identifying as anti-social,” said Stoner.
OKCPD Major Bill Weaver said that we need to consider the victims. “You have to take into consideration the feelings of public safety,” he said.
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