Sentencing Laws and Race
The war on drugs continued in the courtroom, and federal sentencing laws continued to increase prison populations, especially for people of color. At the time, 100 times the amount of powdered cocaine received the same sentence as 1 portion of crack cocaine, a disparity that mostly affected those arrested in black, urban, under-served neighborhoods. Drug offenses are more likely to receive mandatory sentences, and black communities are more likely to be charged for drug offenses. In the late 1980s whites received eight or fewer years in state courts while African American mid-level or low-level drug dealers received longer federal sentences, while. Nearly a quarter of that population had no history of large-scale dealing, violence, or prior convictions, or gun offenses.25
The sentencing trends affected youth in Oklahoma, as well. The Juvenile Reform Act of 1995 better defined Oklahoma’s juvenile justice system as we know it now. No longer under DHS, all services for juvenile justice came under the new state agency named the Department of Juvenile Justice, Office of Juvenile Affairs. County offices became the Juvenile Services Unit. To this point, juvenile justice work in Oklahoma had been increasingly progressive in terms of moving from punishment to treatment and providing more appropriate resources according to the needs of individual youth. But this new more punitive direction most likely reflected trends across the country to focus on harsher accountability through sentencing rather than treatment. For example, under the second director of OJJ (who had previously been at the federal level of juvenile affairs), Oklahoma saw its first boot camp. “His philosophy of increased accountability and earlier consequences for juvenile offenders in order to create safer neighborhoods and begin building a ‘Wall of Prevention’ became his mantra.”26 The third director had 35 years of law enforcement experience. While his emphasis was on public safety (often code for harsher penalties), he also worked to address rehabilitative services, substance abuse prevention, treatment and aftercare for delinquent youth, and increased procedures for supervision and risk assessment for juvenile sex offenders. Beginning after the peak in 1995, nationally juvenile detention numbers have decreased from 105,000 to 48,000 in 2015. Between 1997 and 2013, when most states decreased the number of incarcerated youths, some of them dramatically, Oklahoma also reduced theirs by around 45%.27
Today, as we are understanding the real costs of mass incarceration, however, we are beginning to understand what the real damage is to all parts of our communities, including youth. Through legislation and other actions, we are implementing alternate, healthier, more sustainable methods or reducing incarceration and helping, not punishing young people.
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