AUSTIN—Today, the Texas Public Policy Foundation’s Right on Crime initiative published the paper Oklahoma District Attorney Supervision: An Unpopular Patchwork Policy.
“District attorney supervision is unique to Oklahoma and creates several issues pertaining to effectiveness, conflicts of interest, and appropriate funding of the prosecutorial branch of the judicial system,” said Joe Griffin, communications and policy coordinator for Right on Crime—Oklahoma. “While Oklahoma’s large prison population draws much attention, further attention needs to be focused on the fines and fees that fund the state’s criminal justice system on the backs of offenders.”
Key Points:
- Oklahoma district attorney supervision is a system without clear guidelines and uniformity in its execution. To reform the program, lawmakers must address the need for clear guidelines, public safety concerns, data recording, and funding problems.
- District attorney supervision was created to address both supervision for low-level offenders and the financial needs of Oklahoma’s district attorney offices. The system, throughout its history, has raised issues over conflicts of interest, problems with implementation, and no real data measure of success.
- DA supervision, from a policy standpoint, is failing in its original public safety and financial purpose.
- Oklahoma’s current climate of high-profile wars over departmental funding and critical problems in core services could hinder certain paths of reform, but meaningful reform is still possible, affordable, and critical to public safety.
For the full paper, please visit:
https://www.texaspolicy.com/oklahoma-district-attorney-supervision-an-unpopular-patchwork-policy/