| The Supreme Court's McGirt ruling of 2020 set up an unconstitutional 2-tier justice system in Eastern Oklahoma. Our state legislature seems completely oblivious to the coming rage over the 'diplomatic immunity' that multiple thousands of our neighbors now claim. Some are hoping that the tribal courts will create commensurate laws so that every subject of this police state get the same harsh treatment. Many others are calling for Oklahoma to adjust our criminal code to reflect the federal statutes. For many crimes, especially white collar crimes; the stark contrast is an outrage to the 14th Amendment right of equal protections. Not one filed bill in the 2021 legislature addresses this inequity and denial of our 14th amendment rights of equal protection under the law. |  Oklahoma's largest tribal territories. |
In the wake of the civil war, the constitution was changed to require all levels of govt to insure that all residents are equally and equitably protected in their civil rights. But the federal statutes are vastly different from the harsh penalties in sentencing that Oklahoma statutes impose. The 1987 conviction of Tulsa Election Board Secretary, Harmon Moore, imposed a 7 year prison sentence for embezzling $16,000. But nearly 30 years later, Senator Rick Brinkley ran to the federal courts with his attorney when he confessed to embezzling $1,800,000. He got less than half the sentence for stealing 100 times as much money. The difference is the federal legal code versus the Ok. legal code, which is far harsher.
Thousands of previously convicted Oklahoma tribal members are now appealing their convictions and sentences for no other reason than that the federal sentencing guidelines are vastly less draconian than Oklahoma statutes allow. But even worse, many law enforcement officers are now said to be exempting motorists from speed law enforcement, if they are driving a vehicle with tribal license plates. This just intensifies the enforcement on select non-tribal motorists.
Our legislature seems to be deaf and blind to the problem, because a majority of the lawmakers are either tribal members or their districts are outside of the tribal claimed territories.
Our legislature seems to be deaf and blind to the problem, because a majority of the lawmakers are either tribal members or their districts are outside of the tribal claimed territories.
Oklahomans are not the most evil Americans. Yet our incarceration rates say that we must be the worst. That's because our past governors and lawmakers have embraced a doctrine that their ramped up punishments always work like magic. Oklahoma is among the worst in legislative ignorance about the nature of human behavior which results in violations of our arbitrary criminal code. We have thousands of made up crimes where no other victim exists. Thousands have suffered for treating their ailments with unapproved homeopathic medicines. That's just one example.
Every arrest and every conviction brings a punishment of all Oklahomans who are forced to pay for the the encarcerations, parole enforcements, courts, cops, and even the lawmaking process. Only when a clear victim is identified, should their be a prosecution. If we want to change the behavior of people whose actions harm themselves, let's create & fund the treatments that actually produce recovery. Sitting in a prison cell for years, is not a recovery program. It's exchanging one hell for another hell, and sending the bill to the taxpayers. For every locked up citizen, we punish the taxpayers about $25,000 per year.
