Frank Keating: No on SQ805

Former Oklahoma Governor Frank Keating has written an op-ed for the Daily Oklahoman opposing State Question 805, a ballot proposition that would add an amendment to the Constitution of Oklahoma forbidding sentence enhancements for repeat offenders for many heinous albeit technically non-violent crime. SQ 805 will be on the November ballot.

Keating also served as an FBI agent, Tulsa County Assistant District Attorney, U. S. Attorney for the Northern District of Oklahoma in the Reagan administration, Assistant Secretary of the Treasury, and Associate Attorney General. In the latter two roles he oversaw law enforcement agencies of the Departments of Treasury and Justice.

After taking a well-deserved swipe at a proposition that would make our ridiculously lengthy state constitution even longer, Keating focuses on the harm SQ 805 would do to crime deterrence:

This constitutional amendment is the ultimate gift to the career criminal and the insect crime wave of the lifetime repeat offender. The language says that if you commit a "violent crime," and there are 52 listed, you can have the book thrown at you. However, if you commit any other of the hundreds of criminal acts, including many that are very serious and dangerous, a second offense remains a first offense for punishment. No matter how many times you offend. There is no "enhancement" permitted. "After Former Conviction of a Felony" will become a useless phrase. A person's selfish and destructive long life of crime will be handled as one first offense after another. The fifteenth offense is the first offense as far as punishment goes.

Let's look at examples. Repeat drunk drivers who have caused injury. Incest. Trafficking in children. Hate crimes. Stalking and violation of protective orders. Drug distribution.

How many times can a criminal do these? As many as they wish. Each time, they will be treated as a first offender.

I have been an FBI agent, a state prosecutor and U.S. attorney in Tulsa. I supervised the federal criminal prosecutions in the U.S. as well as all of the U.S. attorneys and most of the federal law enforcement agencies, including the U.S. prison system. Proposed State Question 805 is a stay-out-of-jail free card.

There is always room for reform but not SQ 805. It will result in more criminal activity and more victims. We must not add to the girth of our constitution with this one-size-fits-all experiment. If 805 passes, it cannot be amended by any Legislature at any time.

State Question 805 is terrible public policy.