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Oklahoma
State Senate
Communications Division
State Capitol
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma 73105
For Immediate Release: February 8, 2011
Sen. Constance N. Johnson
Bill will add domestic abusers to violent crime offenders registry
The recent murder/suicide of a young mother of a 14-month old
by the baby’s father in the Mid-Del area of central Oklahoma
County once again draws attention to a sobering statistic in the
state. More women are murdered in Oklahoma by their significant
others than in most other states. In an effort to address the problem,
Sen. Constance
N. Johnson has filed legislation to help fight domestic violence
in the state.
“Protecting citizens is our most important job as lawmakers.
We need to ensure that women have all the tools necessary to protect
themselves from harm. Knowledge is power,” said Johnson, D-Oklahoma
County. “Given the high rate of death from domestic abuse
in our state, a useful step to take is to make people convicted
of domestic violence register with law enforcement just like sex
offenders and perpetrators of other violent crimes. The public,
and in this case women, deserve to be aware of who these individuals
are.”
Senate Bill 502 would add domestic violence to the list of crimes
requiring registration under the Mary Rippy Violent Crime Offenders
Registration Act. The registry was created in 2004 and is maintained
by the Department of Corrections.
Domestic violence is a pattern of behavior used to establish power
and control over another person through the use of fear and intimidation,
often including the threat or actual use of violence. It can include
emotional, economic and sexual abuse as well as threats, using children,
male privilege, intimidation, isolation, or a variety of other behaviors
to maintain fear, intimidation, power, and control.
According to the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation, there were
25,189 reports of domestic violence in the state in 2009, an increase
of just over 14 percent since 2000. The state saw a nearly 18 percent
increase in domestic violence murders in 2009 with a total of 60
deaths. The Oklahoma Domestic Violence Fatality Review Board found
that nearly 55 percent of the victims were female and just over
70 percent of the perpetrators were male. Over half of the victims
were current or former intimate partners, and there was evidence
of prior domestic violence in nearly 80 percent of the cases.
“This bill will help give individuals, especially women, a
way to check out possible partners before they get involved in a
potentially dangerous relationship,” said Johnson. “It’s
extremely hard to get out of an abusive relationship as was evidenced
by the more than forty percent of Oklahomans who were killed in
2009 in domestic violence cases while in the process of leaving
their partner. Adding domestic violence information to this database
will prevent future unnecessary abuse and deaths.”
Johnson went on to point out that according to the National Coalition
Against Domestic Violence, one in every four women will experience
domestic violence in her lifetime and an estimated 1.3 million women
are victims of physical assault by an intimate partner each year.
For more information contact:
Senator C. Johnson: (405) 521-5531
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