Governor Mary Fallin signed legislation Monday allowing judicial discretion for a number of nonviolent crimes.
House Bill 1518, known as the Justice Safety Valve Act, permits judges to lessen mandatory minimum sentences when the term is “not necessary for the protection of the public” and could “result in substantial injustice to the defendant.”
RepresentativePam Peterson, D - Tulsa, authored the bill, and she says she hopes the new law will lessen the strain on Oklahoma’s prison system. The state currently incarcerates more women per capita than anywhere else in the country. State prisons are at 119 percent capacity.
Under the new law, judges who deviate from the minimum sentence must file a report with the district court’s office. The Court of Criminal Appeals will post all instances on its website.
The Justice Safety Valve Act takes effect November 1. Several other states across the country, including Texas, have similar measures currently in place.
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