Summary

Victims should not be sent to prison for fighting back. Domestic violence survivors are serving excessive prison sentences in Oklahoma. We have the second highest rate of women being killed by their partners in the country. We also have had the highest women's incarceration in the world for the last generation. What this says is that we have come to accept that women will be killed by their domestic partners in Oklahoma, but when they fight back or engage in risky behavior to self-medicate their trauma, we punish them excessively. House Bill 1639 allows for survivors of domestic/interpersonal violence to introduce evidence of their abuse in court and receive a lower sentence. It should also allow people who are serving time in prison the opportunity to apply for a lower sentence if they can prove they were victims of violence at the time of the crime, and that the violence was substantial factor in the crime. Our research indicates there are between 150 and 500 survivors in Oklahoma prisons who can prove their victimization led to their prosecution. Many of these survivors bravely shared their stories of abuse to educate Oklahomans and the legislature about this problem. Now, the current bill language won't help them get a lesser sentence. Tell the Oklahoma Senate Judiciary Committee to support HB 1639's retroactivity to bring true justice to survivors, including incarcerated survivors in Oklahoma!