Personal Crime in Oklahoma Has Doubled in the Last Five Years

In a weird and roundabout way, crime in Oklahoma is growing. Especially crime against persons--assault, battery, murder, etc... By the stats, these crimes have doubled in the last five years, and that's not the only shocking thing you'll learn today.

It could be a cycle. As Oklahoma incarceration rates shrink, crime is going up.

Are those two stats related, or is Oklahoma just going crazy?

Here are the stats.

When it comes to personal crimes, the total number of personal crime cases in 2018 was 34,051 according to OSBI. These cases have grown steadily year over year to a grand total of 64,104 in 2023.

That's nearly doubled in just five years. In fact, it's more than double if you look back to 2018. Add in how Oklahoma prisons housed fewer inmates in 2023 than in 2019, it almost seems like these two things could be related... but to be fair, prison populations are growing again after the pandemic put a squeeze on court proceedings and sentencing for so long.

Granted, the Oklahoma prison system has been a sore subject for a very long time among residents. When Oklahoma had the highest incarceration rates in the country a few years ago, the public perception was the prison system was more or less corrupt private business rather than reprimand and rehabilitation.

With prison populations lower than pre-pandemic numbers, and crime swelling across the Sooner State, what gives?