NCJ Number
101666
Date Published
1985
Length
13 pages
Annotation
To assess the impact of Oklahoma Senate Bill 71 on prison population, record files of 90 inmates and 100 probationers were examined for the dollar amounts of their offenses.
Abstract
Bill 71 proposes to raise the felony limit to $500 for certain property offenses including bogus check crimes, larceny, and grand larceny. For inmates, only 33 files provided dollar information: of these, 12 had amounts under $500, but 9 had at least 1 prior felony conviction for a similar offense. Of the 37 probation files listing dollar amounts, 21 were under $500, and only 3 of these had prior felony convictions for similar offenses. Assuming the findings are generalizable to the entire offender population, results suggest that the immediate effect of an increase in the felony that the immediate effect of an increase in the felony limit on the total prison population would be negligible. Any effect would be over the long term as a result of fewer cases in which prior felony convictions and parole or probation revocations resulted in incarceration. Tables and the text of Bill 71.