Chicken-Fried News: Nonviolent November

Turns out being tough on crime is pretty tough on Oklahomans.

“Violent criminals will continue to be incarcerated, but the fact is that one in 11 Oklahomans serve time in prison at some point in their lives,” Gov. Mary Fallin recently told NewsOK.com.

This session, Fallin already has signed bills to allow low-level drug offenders to leave prison after they complete a drug offender work camp and modify licensing requirements to expand work opportunities for former offenders.

Now, she also has signed a bill that allows judges to impose shorter sentences for some nonviolent crimes.

The Justice Safety Valve Act goes into effect Nov. 1 and will let judges depart from mandatory minimum terms in some cases. Maybe this will lower Oklahoma’s standing as the state with the top incarceration rate for women in the nation.

But the main takeaway is this: If you’re going to commit a nonviolent crime, try to wait until November.

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