crime
High fees, long waits cast shadow over new criminal expungement laws
More states are making it easier for residents to clear or seal their criminal records. The effort has drawn bipartisan support, as lawmakers across the political spectrum say it will help people find jobs and housing, in turn boosting local economies and reducing reliance on social services. “Folks that get out of jail or prison […]
Efforts to criminalize homelessness growing in Oklahoma
OKLAHOMA CITY — A national push to criminalize homelessness is impacting the state as cities and lawmakers introduce policies aimed at regulating encampments and other support for unhoused Oklahomans, legal experts say. Efforts to criminalize homelessness through tickets, fines or arrests aren’t new, but have increased in the last few years partly as a result […]
Opinion: We studied jail conditions and jail deaths − here’s what we found
The family of Samuel Lawrence, one of 10 people to die in Georgia’s Fulton County Jail in 2023, is fighting for answers and accountability. “I got to think about him every day of my life and I don’t know when the pain stops,” Lawrence’s father, Frank Richardson, told a local TV station in October 2023. […]
Politicians love to cite crime data. It’s often wrong.
When Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis announced his presidential campaign in May, he proudly told the nation that Florida’s crime rate in 2021 had reached a 50-year low. But really, DeSantis couldn’t say for sure. That’s because fewer than 1 in 10 law enforcement agencies in his state had reported their crime statistics to the […]
Sexual assault survivors can now track their rape kits in most states
It can take hours for a sexual assault victim to undergo the multiple swabs, hair samples, blood and urine collections, and other invasive procedures of a sexual assault examination. And then it can take months, sometimes years, for investigators to process that evidence kit. But now, responding to demands from survivors and their advocates, more […]
High school sports authority adds no new security protocols after fatal Oklahoma shooting
OKLAHOMA CITY — Despite one school district’s call for minimum safety standards in the wake of a fatal shooting at a high school football game, the governing body for Oklahoma school athletics took no action to change current security regulations. The board of directors for the Oklahoma Secondary School Activities Association discussed, but made no […]
Officials respond to shooting at high school football game with few concrete ideas
OKLAHOMA CITY – A loud pop of gunshots rang from the visitor’s side of the Choctaw High School football stadium. The screams of a terrified crowd followed as people fled or dropped to the ground. The shooting at the Choctaw-Del City football game Friday left a 16-year-old student dead and two other people wounded. Two […]
Oklahoma law to tackle missing, murdered Indigenous crisis remains unfunded
OKLAHOMA CITY — Two years after Oklahoma lawmakers passed bipartisan legislation to address the crisis of missing and murdered Indigenous people, a state law enforcement entity has not secured federal funding to carry out the new law. The Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation, in following the law, has appointed an agent to tackle these cases. […]