We fight for the rights and opportunities of every Oklahoman.
We fight for the rights and opportunities of every Oklahoman.
In August, Oklahoma Appleseed published The Forgotten Machine, a comprehensive report on Misdemeanor justice in Oklahoma that showed on average 668 people are serving jail time on misdemeanors every night in Oklahoma.
In addition, Oklahomans pay over $22 Million in taxpayer dollars to administer the misdemeanor justice system which is largely inefficient, costly, and often causes more harm than good.
In our quest to find a program that could ameliorate the harms of the misdemeanor system, we came across the Misdemeanor Diversion Program in Oklahoma County. This program, administered by the Diversion Hub in Oklahoma County, shows early promise in being able to divert individuals from more extensive involvement in the criminal justice system while providing life stabilizing services to its participants.
Our newest publication, Misdemeanor Diversion Works, took an independent look at the data that emerged after a year of conducting the Misdemeanor Diversion Program, and found some impressive outcomes.
Read and download the report here.
Lack of access to stable employment is one of the biggest issues for people involved in the misdemeanor justice system.
Another major destabilizing event is losing housing. Losing affordable housing can often send people into a downward spiral that can end in arrest or incarceration.
Oklahoma's mental health services landscape can be intimidating and difficult to navigate, especially for populations struggling with serious mental illness.
Asking people who are experiencing destabilization to find rides or public transportation to receive important services inevitably means people will not be able to attain those services if they can't make it to appointments. Centralizing services is a key indicator of a successful program.
The general felony recidivism rate is closer to 26% in Oklahoma. With only 6% of Misdemeanor Diversion graduates going on to recidivate after completing MDP, that is a significant statistical shift from baseline.
One thing that stood out was that people with 10+ prior felonies had an engagement rate of 69% by graduation. This is a notoriously difficult population to see success with because of their extensive prior involvement with the justice system.
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