Opinion-Rethinking Fear-Based Legislation: Ineffective Solutions

Prison WarehousePhoto byCarles RabadaonUnsplash

In Oklahoma, not long ago, we had a horrible tragedy occur when Jesse Mcfadden, a person who had previously been convicted of Rape in 2003, took the lives of his wife, Holly McFadden, 35, Holly's three children, Tiffany Guess, 13; Michael Mayo, 15; and Raylee Allen, 17, and Tiffany's friends Ivy Webster, 14, and Brittany Brewer, 15. McFadden also took his own life. The autopsy report indicated McFadden sexually assaulted Webster and Brewer. Oklahoma Highway Patrol discovered the bodies hours before the trial was set to begin.

McFadden had pending charges for sexting a minor when he was previously incarcerated in the Oklahoma Department of Corrections. The public was outraged he was released due to the pending charges, and many blamed the Department of Corrections for McFadden being released. It is essential to state that the Department of Corrections is not to blame; if it is time for someone to be released, they must discharge them. McFadden did not have a hold on this other matter, and the charging entity is responsible for notifying the Oklahoma Department of Corrections. The family was also outraged due to finding evidence at the scene after the police had left.

In Response to this incident, Rep. Scott Fetgatter introduced HB 3992 for Life terms as a maximum penalty for some sex crimes and also required offenders in this category to serve 100% of their time. The bill is being called Knights Law and named after the Henryetta school mascot in honor of the five child victims. The bill is a reaction to this incident. It is to be applied to everyone convicted, despite the fact data shows sex offenders to be in the lowest category for recidivism of all crime categories. When anyone is released from prison, there will be risk, and that is static and constant. Sex Offender Recidivism Fact sheet below.

Sex offender Recidivism

In the United States, we have a practice of making laws in this manner, but are the policies effective in deterring crime, preventing crime, and reducing recidivism?

3 Strikes legislation across the nation was a significant contributor to the growth of the current prison population. Polly Klaas was the victim the law was based on, and it has not reduced crime and cost billions of dollars. Additional secondary costs are an aging prison population with high-cost healthcare needs, but legislators have yet to look at data or consider the long-term impact.

California 3 Strikes-Stanford University

Another ineffective tool implemented was the sex offender registry. The law was named after victim Megan Kanka. A 2006 study funded by the Office of Justice programs states, "Despite wide community support for these laws, there is little evidence to date, including this study, to support a claim that Megan’s Law is effective in reducing either new first-time sex offenses or sexual re-offenses" There is broad public support and billions of dollars spent on these ineffective programs.

2006 Study Megan's Law

All of this money spent while we have 2700 rape kits that are still backlogged and untested? I wonder if we aggressively tested the rape kits we might be able to prevent future sex crimes. If we focused on testing these rape kits, we might be able to apprehend someone before they commit a subsequent crime.

I suspect changing this law will lead to a rise in our prison population and also increase our aging incarcerated population, requiring more costly healthcare needs of the aged population. Currently, ODOC is not implementing the SOTP program at all institutions; many are being ordered the SOTP as aftercare.

In conclusion, we must look at data-driven solutions and respond to the needs of Oklahoma with the realities of the data, public safety, efficacy, and cost to the taxpayer in mind. Hopefully, our legislators will look at the data and act responsibly. Oklahoma has already had an uptick in our prison population, and this new law will cost the taxpayer and have little to no effect on prevention, deterrence, or recidivism.