OK Survivor Justice Coalition
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OK Survivor Justice Coalition
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Survivorship
The Stories
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survivors deserve real justice.

survivors deserve real justice.survivors deserve real justice.survivors deserve real justice.

We're supporting HB 1639 the most comprehensive law change to help survivors facing criminalization and prosecution. Join us.

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our statement on non-passage of hb 1639

Friday, May 26th, was the final day of the Oklahoma legislative session. HB 1639, the Oklahoma Domestic Abuse Survivorship Act, did not receive a final vote on the House floor and thus did not advance into law.


Our Coalition has worked since the Summer of 2022 to formulate and pass legislation that would create a different landscape for victims of domestic violence who go on to get prosecuted by the State of Oklahoma. Our goal was two-fold: (1) to create a procedure for survivors going forward who could introduce evidence of their abuse to receive a shorter sentence and (2) to create a procedure for survivors who have already been serving lengthy sentences to get a second chance at justice.


Neither of these goals would have been furthered by the final language in HB 1639, which was stripped of meaningful relief for domestic abuse survivors at the last minute. Our Coalition was cut out of final negotiations on the policy, resulting in a piece of legislation that did little for survivors–past or future. The ability for survivors to receive a shorter criminal sentence going forward was significantly limited and made optional. Our original intent would have been a mandatory reduction, and would have applied to any survivor regardless of their underlying crime.


The retroactivity provisions were entirely removed from the bill. Although we worked with the authors to get this language restored throughout the session, the language was never restored. 


We are so proud of the movement we have built for Oklahoma’s survivors. We reached over 500,000 Oklahomans in our quest for justice. Our Coalition members like Tracey Lyall (DVIS), Jan Peery (YWCA-OKC), Paula Marshall (Bama Companies), and Dr. David McLeod (OU School of Social Work) wrote to their local papers about the importance of survivor justice. Criminalized survivor April Wilkens had her op-ed published in The Oklahoman, USA Today, and the Daily Caller. Significantly more Oklahomans (and Americans) understand the complexities of fighting back than ever before.


We built a volunteer base of over 130 people–many of whom are family members of survivors in prison. These folks emailed, called, and showed up until there was no time left. For your dedication, we are eternally grateful and this movement is built on your hard work.


Our Coalition has become stronger than ever through the process of facing the shifting demands of our opposition throughout this session. Although no one would openly oppose HB 1639 or the concept of survivor justice, we were nonetheless fighting for this bill to survive from the first day of session. Oklahoma’s District Attorney’s Council continued to move the goalposts as we tried to accommodate their many complaints about the language in the bill. This is a difficult realization, one we hope awakens the citizens of Oklahoma to the challenge ahead.


We recognize the vast amount of education that still needs to take place within communities and within the Capitol. As recently as last week, we heard from legislators that they did not understand why survivors stay in violent relationships. There is much work to be done to explain the complicated dynamics of interpersonal violence and to stop the victim blaming culture that has existed for too long here in Oklahoma.

Our Coalition will continue to support survivors of domestic violence who are wasting away in Oklahoma prisons through mutual aid and support. We will continue to mine the stories of survivors throughout our state, and we will come back next session ready to engage the opposition until we reach a true victory and pass legislation that delivers the justice survivors deserve.

HB 1639 did not pass the oklahoma legislature this year.

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About Us

Oklahoma Survivor's Justice Act

Meet Oklahoma's Imprisoned Survivors

What is Criminalized Survivorship?

We're working to pass a Survivor's Justice Act in Oklahoma. This bill would allow mitigating evidence of abuse at sentencing in a criminal trial. It would also allow survivors who have been sentenced another chance at justice through re-sentencing.

learn more

What is Criminalized Survivorship?

Meet Oklahoma's Imprisoned Survivors

What is Criminalized Survivorship?

Criminalized survivorship is the experience of being a survivor of violence, and then being subjected to criminal prosecution for fighting back against the abuse. 


Our society frequently places the blame for violent acts on women, even when the women were not the primary perpetrators of violence.

Learn more

Meet Oklahoma's Imprisoned Survivors

Meet Oklahoma's Imprisoned Survivors

Meet Oklahoma's Imprisoned Survivors

We're connecting with criminalized survivors in Oklahoma prisons to gather their stories, support them in the ways they need, and provide solidarity. 

Read their stories

Get Involved

Meet Oklahoma's Imprisoned Survivors

Meet Oklahoma's Imprisoned Survivors

Sign up here to join our movement to resentence survivors in prison.

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Why OKlahoma?

Since before we became a state, violence has been like a second language to us.

From the colonization of native lands, to the Black Wall Street Massacre, Oklahomans are no strangers to violence and pain. It's in our DNA. And, even when we didn't want it to, it crept into our homes. It crept into what should've been our safest places: our relationships. Child victimization in Oklahoma is almost double the national average, meaning that so many children begin to transpose violence for love early in their lives. So it's no wonder many of our citizens go on to enter relationships that culminate in violence.


90% of those treated for intimate partner violence injuries were women. Of those, the highest incidence occurs in Black women and Native women respectively. 


Over 40,000 domestic violence calls were made in Oklahoma County in 2021, less than a thousand of those led to arrest. 


We have to accept that our responses to intimate partner violence are not effective. We may never be able to eradicate intimate partner violence. However, some survivors are getting caught in the cross hairs of ineffective policy. Many survivors of violence fight back, and even though their abusers have evaded accountability for numerous systemic reasons--they are made to pay through prosecution, imprisonment, and excessive sentences.

Our Coalition

Why medusa?

Medusa has recently become a symbol for survivors of sexual and gender based violence.

In October of 2020, when Harvey Weinstein was being tried for his crimes at the NY State Supreme Courthouse in Manhattan, artist Luciano Garbatti unveiled his statue across the street. 


His bronze statue depicts Medusa holding the severed head of Perseus. In the myth, Medusa was raped by Poseidon and then turned into a monster with snakes for hair who could turn men to stone with her gaze. Garbatti's work turns the story on its head, showing Medusa victorious over her tormentors and recasting an age old villain as a survivor who endured violence and then "set a boundary."


Garbatti said of his statute, "This difference between a masculine victory and a feminine one, that was central to my work. The representations of Perseus, he’s always showing the fact that he won, showing the head…if you look at my Medusas…she is determined, she had to do what she did because she was defending herself. It’s quite a tragic moment.”

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