Liberals think that well-intentioned programs are good even if they don’t work and unintended consequences.

One of the latest causes is “criminal justice reform.” Progressives argue that Oklahoma locks up too many people (especially women), that the prison system costs too much and that it is cheaper to rehabilitate than to incarcerate.

They are close to identifying the problems but they have the wrong solutions.

Liberals – Democrats and Republicans – want to decriminalize state laws, relax enforcement on illegal drug usage and increase the funding for state prisons.

Prosecutors across the state have lobbied against the decriminalization efforts to no avail. The people who want to empty the prisons are the same ones who are charged with protecting the public.

In a perfect world, after a lawbreaker serves his or her sentence, he or she would exit prison rehabilitated and then take a productive role in society. But it doesn’t usually work that way. There is a cycle to many criminals and some actually become more skilled at their various criminal activities while in prison.

Oklahoma should stop comparing itself to other states, particularly on a per capita basis. We have more prisoners because more people have broken the law.

The missing factor in the rush for criminal justice reform is the impact on victims of crimes. If your home is burglarized by a drug addict out on early parole, there is not much the police can do to not only recover your property but to reassure you and your family that another break-in will occur.

This happens every day in Tulsa.

No one is serving hard time in the McAlester State Prison for mere possession of marijuana. Tulsa County District Court judges bend over backwards to help people addicted to drugs to get the help they need to recover. Those programs are effective.

The problem is when gambling addicts or drug addicts turn to property crime or violent crime to feed their habits. That’s when they should go to jail to protect the public.

Let’s hope Gov. Kevin Stitt prevails in injecting common sense in this issue.