{"id":889812,"date":"2022-11-19T15:57:10","date_gmt":"2022-11-19T15:57:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/radiofree.asia\/?guid=6593efeeb28f53edb747348fdfa3812b"},"modified":"2022-11-19T15:57:10","modified_gmt":"2022-11-19T15:57:10","slug":"oklahomas-child-abuse-law-doesnt-protect-children-it-criminalizes-mothers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/2022\/11\/19\/oklahomas-child-abuse-law-doesnt-protect-children-it-criminalizes-mothers\/","title":{"rendered":"Oklahoma\u2019s \u201cChild Abuse\u201d Law Doesn\u2019t Protect Children \u2014 It Criminalizes Mothers"},"content":{"rendered":"

Karina had been looking forward to Christmas. In November, she had reunited with her 6-year-old daughter, who had been staying with Karina\u2019s sister after Karina was evicted. That month, the family celebrated Karina\u2019s younger daughter\u2019s first birthday \u2014 complete with her first teetering steps.<\/p>\n

Karina moved in with her father and, trying to save for her own apartment, had been working two full-time restaurant jobs, often going straight from one to another. Although she was an enrolled member of the Shawnee, she was too far from the tribal area to utilize their assistance.<\/p>\n

Instead, she relied on her boyfriend to care for her 1-year-old. Although he was not the father of either child, Karina had no reason to distrust him. She had seen him with his sister\u2019s children, with whom he spent every weekend, and, she told Truthout<\/em>, \u201che was good with kids.\u201d Karina called regularly to check on them. He always told her that everything was fine.<\/p>\n

On Christmas Eve, Karina woke up to find her baby no longer breathing. \u201cShe was already cold,\u201d she recalled. Later, she learned that her boyfriend told police that he had choked the baby with a stuffed animal “because he would get frustrated due to her crying all the time.”<\/p>\n

Ultimately, her boyfriend was convicted of child abuse and sentenced to 20 years in prison. He was released in 2019 and is serving the remaining 10 years on probation. Karina went to trial. She was convicted of child abuse and sentenced to 65 years in prison. She has served 18 years and remains in prison today. Truthout<\/em> agreed not to publish her legal name in this article (Karina is a pseudonym) because women with child abuse convictions are often bullied in prison.<\/p>\n

Karina\u2019s case is not unusual \u2014 at least not in Oklahoma. The state has long held the dubious distinction of having the nation\u2019s \u2014 and the world\u2019s \u2014 highest incarceration rate for women<\/a>. While it has now dropped to second place (behind Idaho), it nonetheless has more than double the national average<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cSince 2016, the women’s prison population has declined 30 percent<\/a>,\u201d Jasmine Sankofa, policy and research manager for FWD.us, which advocates for criminal justice reform, told Truthout<\/em>. But, she added, \u201ca lot of the gains from reforms have focused on nonviolent offenses, low-level property and drug offenses. It’s time for Oklahoma to shift and focus on other offenses that are really driving the women’s prison population.\u201d<\/p>\n

This includes the state\u2019s child abuse and neglect statute, under which one in every six (or 16 percent of) incarcerated women in Oklahoma is imprisoned. The statute encompasses a broad range of circumstances, including living in poverty, experiencing domestic violence, and having a partner who injures or kills a child. The state classifies child abuse and neglect as a violent offense, regardless of the facts, which means that those convicted under the statute are not eligible to earn time off until they have served at least 85 percent of their sentence.<\/p>\n

It is also the most common conviction for women in Oklahoma\u2019s prisons.<\/p>\n

\u201cFailing to Protect<\/a>,<\/em>\u201d a new issue brief by FWD.us, details the ways in which Oklahoma\u2019s child abuse and neglect statute unfairly punishes mothers and further endangers, rather than protects, children.<\/p>\n

While every state prosecutes parents and caregivers for child abuse and child neglect, Oklahoma\u2019s statutes are broad, vague and open to interpretation. For instance, state law defines child abuse as \u201cwillful or malicious harm or threatened harm or failure to protect from harm or threatened harm to the health, safety, or welfare of a child.\u201d As the brief summarizes, the state defines child neglect as \u201c\u2018the failure or omission to provide \u2026 adequate nurturance and affection, food, clothing, shelter, sanitation, hygiene, or appropriate education, medical, dental, or behavioral health care, supervision or appropriate caretakers, or special care made necessary by the physical or mental condition of the child\u2019 in addition to abandonment and the \u2018failure or omission to protect a child from exposure to\u2019 illegal drugs, inappropriate content, and other illegal activities.\u201d Both can carry up to a life sentence.<\/p>\n