Sand Springs Chamber of Commerce holds forum on criminal justice reform

The Sand Springs Chamber of Commerce held an open forum on criminal justice reform Monday afternoon at the Tulsa Tech Sand Springs campus. Sand Springs Police Chief Mike Carter, Tulsa County Public Defenders Office first assistant Stuart Sutherland, and District Judge Doug Drummond all spoke at the event.

According to Carter, the Tulsa County Court System has been working together with local police departments to implement electronic filing, saving the departments time and resources.

Carter discussed local law enforcement efforts to distance themselves from partisan thinking, comparing reform to a swinging pendulum that needs to test different policies and find balance.

Sutherland spoke about the high incarceration rate in the county and the potential for low income defendants to be adversely affected by the current system, speculating that some innocent defendants who are financially unable to bond out are more likely to enter guilty pleas in order to either get out of jail, or to avoid a greater sentence if they are unable to defeat their charges.

Drummond addressed the difficulty of balancing the need to reform offenders with the need to provide justice for victims. "I think (legislators) are afraid that people are going to think they're soft on crime. It does take some courage to make this move (toward reform)." Another concern of Drummond’s was a lack of data in Oklahoma to guide reform and let policy makers know what works.