OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. — Domestic violence homicides in Oklahoma remain among the highest in the nation despite a decrease of 222, according to the annual report just released by the Oklahoma Domestic Violence Fatality Review Board.

Domestic homicide numbers for the past four years are substantially higher than in previous years. The year 2022 marked the fourth year in a row where the board identified more than 100 victims killed due to domestic violence.

The report showed Oklahoma averaged 114 domestic homicide victims between the years of 2019 and 2022, compared to 90 between the years of 2011 and 2018.

In 2021, the total number of domestic homicide victims in Oklahoma was 118. In 2022, that number dropped to 105.

Since 1996, Oklahoma has consistently been ranked in the top 10 states of women murdered by men in single-victim/single-offender incidents. In the most recent rankings, Oklahoma was second in the nation for women killed by men.

“Although we saw fewer instances of domestic violence homicides in 2022, this horrific crime is tragically rampant in Oklahoma,” said Attorney General Gentner Drummond, whose office houses the board. “I appreciate the difficult work the board completed and the recommendations they have developed to help reduce domestic violence-related deaths. Oklahoma can and must do better.”

Each year, Drummond’s board makes recommendations to the state Legislature to improve domestic violence prevention and protection systems in Oklahoma.

One of the recent recommendations is increasing funding provided to certified domestic violence and sexual assault service providers in the state and declining federal funding for victim services grants.

According to the report, more funding is necessary to ensure core victim services throughout the state are provided for. The board said increased funding would also help expand victim advocacy and shelter operations offered by those existing providers.

The board also asked the Legislature to strengthen state law to better equip prosecutors to hold domestic abusers accountable.

“This will help enhance the safety of victims, their families and the community at large,” the report states.

Recommended changes include:

• Broadening the Domestic Assault and Battery with a Deadly Weapon charge to include weapons other than firearms
• Including domestic violence offenses as 85-percent crimes
• Increasing the punishment time for first-time Domestic Assault and Battery by Strangulation
• Classifying several domestic assault and battery offenses as violent crimes.

The board said these changes would eliminate any discrepancies between domestic abuse and non-domestic crimes.

“Overall, the goal should be to not have a statutory landscape where there are less consequences for domestic abuse, particularly intimate partner abuse, than if the same crime is committed against a stranger,” the report notes.

Senator Darrell Weaver (R-Moore) recently filed Senate Bill 1236, which is aimed at addressing strangulation offenses.

“We want zero domestic violence. I know that’s not going to happen, I’m realistic, but at the end of the day that’s what I want,” said Weaver. “The spectrum of domestic violence has said that if a person is going to strangle someone, the next step is taking a pistol [and] normally killing the person. So we have to do something about that.”

If passed it would reclassifying strangulation as an 85% crime.

“I don’t want that in our society and I’ll do everything I can to fight against it. That’s what we’re doing, bringing more awareness, bringing more tools in the tool chest to be able to combat this and drive those numbers down if we can to zero.”

It was heard and passed out of the senate judiciary committee this week.

To read the full report, click here.