OKLAHOMA CITY — Oklahoma’s violent crime rate dropped greater than 5% prior to now yr, however nonetheless stays increased than the nationwide common, a legal justice group stated this week.
With the exception of a slight bump in 2020 throughout the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, Oklahoma’s violent crime has been declining since 2018, stated Felicity Rose, director of analysis and coverage with FWD, a bipartisan group that advocates for legal justice reform.
Rose’s evaluation of 2021 FBI crime knowledge discovered that in 2021, in Oklahoma there have been 434.0 violent crimes per 100,000 folks. That’s a 5.36% drop from 2020, and an total drop of 4.67% from 2016 to 2021.
The nationwide common in 2021 was 379.8 violent crimes per 100,000. The nationwide rate decreased 4.68% from the yr prior and 4.44% from 2016 to 2021, the group discovered.
Rose stated Oklahoma has the next total violent crime rate than another states, however that’s typical in states which have traditionally had the best incarceration charges.
“That’s one of the reasons we believe that incarceration does not make people safer,” Rose stated. “And one reason we’re so heartened to see that Oklahoma has successfully been able to start bringing that incarceration rate down while also bringing crime rates down over the last five years.”
Rose stated some latest research even have indicated there may be extra violent crime in rural areas and extra property-crimes in city areas.
Oklahoma’s violent crime rate took middle stage after Democratic gubernatorial challenger Joy Hofmeister argued throughout a debate final week that the charges of violent crime are increased in Oklahoma below Republican Gov. Kevin Stitt’s administration than in New York and California. Stitt instantly contended that wasn’t true.
Rose stated FBI knowledge for 2021 covers about two-thirds of the nation, so the unfinished knowledge has opened the door this election cycle for “a lot of fear mongering around the crime rate and talking about rising crime that just actually isn’t borne out in the data.”
“So there was a rise in crime in 2020, but it doesn’t seem that it’s continued to increase,” Rose stated. “And just that lack of data has kind of left a vacuum that people have been filling with speculation.”
She stated 99% of Oklahoma’s legislation enforcement companies reported their 2021 crime knowledge to the FBI, in order that paints an correct image of the state’s crime rate. Rose additionally stated the FBI actually cautions towards utilizing its statistics to match one state to a different due to the totally different ways in which crime knowledge is collected and the totally different circumstances from place-to-place.
She stated since 2016, the state’s total crime rate has fallen over 12.6% and the jail inhabitants dropped about 21.1%. She credit the decline, partially, to legal justice reforms carried out over the previous few years.
“We think that’s evidence that Oklahoma and many other states, if they want to follow Oklahoma’s example, can safely reduce (the) prison population (and) can actually be part of improving public safety as well as boosting the economy,” she stated.
Rose stated Oklahomans haven’t been deterred by “fear-mongering tactics” regardless of misinformation circulating in marketing campaign commercials on tv. She stated latest polling confirmed that 64% of Oklahoma voters favored candidates more likely to assist legal justice reforms.
David Gateley, a legal justice coverage analyst for the Oklahoma Policy Institute, a non-partisan suppose tank, stated when taking Oklahoma’s violent crime rate alone, “I think that anyone would see the numbers (and) agree that we do have a higher than what should be acceptable violent crime rate in the state of Oklahoma.”
He stated violent crime is a “complex issue,” however believes charges are increased in states which have a scarcity of funding in social security nets together with well being care, housing and different wants.
Gateley stated Hofmeister could have technically been correct in saying Oklahoma had the next violent crime rate in 2020 in comparison with New York and California, however what she stated additionally was “somewhat misleading.”
“Joy Hofmeister was correct in the violent crime rates, but I think tying it to a policy that was put in place by Stitt or by the Legislature would be misleading to make that assumption,” he stated.
The state’s higher-than-average violent crime developments have existed since 2001, Gateley stated.
He stated not one of the state’s latest legal justice reforms handled violent crime. They as a substitute centered on low-level drug offenses and property crimes.
Hofmeister’s marketing campaign didn’t reply to an electronic mail searching for remark and clarification on what statistics she was referencing throughout the debate.
Stitt’s marketing campaign issued an announcement saying he was proud to be endorsed by the state Fraternal Order of Police, and stated Oklahomans know his “pro-safety, smart-on-crime policies are working.”
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