Oklahoma lawmakers will weigh death penalty moratorium, jail reforms

Oklahoma lawmakers are gearing up to debate a slate of criminal justice bills that could update the state’s correctional policies, change treatment expectations for incompetent defendants, restructure the parole board and pause the death penalty.

Rethinking long-established processes, the proposals aim to address some of the most pressing challenges brought to public focus over the past year. Here are issues to watch:

Death penalty 

Senate Bill 601, authored by Sen. Dave Rader, R-Tulsa, pauses all pending executions, prevents the state from scheduling new execution dates and establishes a task force to review Oklahoma’s execution practices.

Made up of five members, the Death Penalty Reform Task Force would be responsible for determining whether the state is living up to reforms suggested in 2017.

All statutes related to the death penalty would be suspended until the act is repealed, at which time they would return to full force. However, the bill specifies that it does not vacate individual judgments in cases where a death sentence has been given.

A similar measure was proposed last year by Rep. Kevin McDugle, R-Broken Arrow, but it stalled on the House floor.

In Oklahoma, there are 32 people on death row. Last year, only Texas and Alabama outpaced the state’s number of executions.

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