Mullin opposes criminal justice bill
Six of Oklahoma’s seven members of Congress voted last week to reform the federal criminal justice system by easing mandatory minimum sentences and increasing the use of good-time credits, among other changes.
The First Step Act, signed into law by President Donald Trump on Friday, was approved by the Senate 87-12 and by the House 358-36. In the all-Republican Oklahoma delegation, only Rep. Markwayne Mullin of Westville voted against the legislation.
“Congressman Mullin was disappointed the Cotton-Kennedy amendment was not included in the bill,” said Amy Lawrence, the congressman’s spokeswoman, referring to an amendment that would have excluded child sex criminals from the bill’s benefits.
“As a father of five children, he was not willing to vote for a bill that didn’t include language to clarify sentencing for criminals who abuse minors.”
The bill reduced the disparity between sentences for crack cocaine and powder cocaine, which is expected to affect 2,600 federal inmates. It eases the so-called three strikes law and gives judges more power to avoid mandatory minimum sentences. Some high-risk inmates are excluded from the new benefits, as are undocumented immigrants.
“This is not an early release bill, this is not letting people out, this is not the jailbreak bill,” said Sen. James Lankford, an Oklahoma City Republican, on Friday. “I've heard all kinds of rumors.”
The legislation was unusually bipartisan. The conservative Americans for Prosperity-Oklahoma launched an online ad last month urging Lankford and Sen. Jim Inhofe to support it, and they did. The ad showed a father hugging his young daughter under the message, “This legislation will make streets safer and give Americans second chances!”
“I’m a law-and-order kind of guy,” said Inhofe, R-Tulsa, “and one of the things I appreciated most about this bill is that it lets faith-based groups like Prison Fellowship operate more comprehensively in federal prisons to help reduce recidivism rates.”
Though they both voted for the bill, Inhofe and Lankford were split on an amendment that would have required the Bureau of Prisons to speak to every victim of an inmate’s crime and notify them when the inmate will be released. Inhofe voted in favor and Lankford voted against the amendment, which failed and was not added to the bill.
“While there were more reforms I supported and wish had been adopted, this bill will provide a second chance for those who work for it,” Inhofe said.