Some things are not as what they first appear. On a positive note, according to Tulsa Police Department, statistics show that Tulsa north is the safest place in the city. Not just this year but for seven years running. While on its face it could be seen as a source of pride for what many believe is the most crime riddled sector of Tulsa. Which now begs the question, “how did this happen?”
Ask most people where most of the crime is in Tulsa, and most would point north, and the assumption is that gangs are running wild committing crime. There is gang violence and despite a downturn in crime in Tulsa north, it remains a serious problem. To be sure being the sector where Tulsa is reported the least does not mean the streets are safe.
The three sectors are all pretty close in crime statistics. Gilcrease Division had 5,321 reported crimes per 100,000, Riverside had 5,659 and Mingo Valley Division had 5,666. Tulsa on a whole doesn’t have a safe section of town. But, Tulsa north is in fact where reported crimes are lowest. Why could that be?
There are probably a lot of factors which contribute to the lower numbers. One just might be less people to commit crime and a rising number of those are sitting in prison. As crime went down, prison population went straight up.
In 1983, 23.5 percent of Oklahoma inmates were African Americans, 6.6 were Native Americans and 67.7 percent were white. Jump to 2009, just before Tulsa north started showing low crime rates, African Americans rose to 30.90 percent, Native Americans rose to 9 percent, and white inmates fell to 52.6 percent of the inmate population.
The latest numbers from the Department of Corrections in Oklahoma show African Americans comprising 26.2 percent or a drop from the 2009 high, while white inmate population rose to 54.5 percent. Hispanics now make up 7.7 percent of the population in Oklahoma prisons. Native American inmate population jumped up to 11 percent of the population.
So, what does this have to do with crime in Tulsa? Its pretty clear there are more and more African Americans and other people of color filling up prisons, while white inmate population numbers are falling. The numbers don’t lie, there are fewer and fewer African Americans living here due to a rising number of them going to prison. Pure attrition is fueling part of these numbers.
Some point to the growing number of private prisons. In 2015 private prisons cost Oklahomans $151 million to bring state expenditures to over half a billion dollars for total corrections. While Oklahoma agencies and departments were experiencing deep cuts, the DOC received a $1 increase. Not a huge increase but no savage cuts like education received. Corrections is big business and private prisons once lobbied for longer sentences they now lobby against prison reform. All the while spending annually $400 thousand a year to influence legislators. This really reveals the priorities of our state, slashing education while maintaining corrections budget. The majority of those in prison are functionally illiterate. If only Oklahoma redirected those dollars into schools. What about other factors?
Oklahoma is ranked number one in the percentage of women put behind bars. Oklahoma was already number one in the nation, but in 2014 the state increase over the previous year jumped by 10.4 percent. The current trend says that rate will continue. Women of color incarceration rates follow male rates.
Sentencing laws for federal laws on drugs disproportionately target African Americans in Oklahoma, the state with the highest overall black incarceration rate. One in 15 black males ages 18 and older is in prison. That would certainly bring down the general population. New United States Attorney General Jeff Sessions, not exactly famous for his tolerant views toward African Americans announced he is bringing back the harshest sentences for low-level drug offenses, a sharp rejection of Obama reforms. Perhaps the crime rate will drop even more and the prisons swell with people of color. So, before we celebrate lower crime reported it should be questioned at what price?
