Victim's Rights Bill for Students Heads to Full Senate

A bill to ensure school-age victims of violence have a greater say in limiting contact with their attacker is headed to the full Senate for consideration. Sen. Charlie Laster is author of SB 1597 which was approved this week by the Senate Education Committee.

“This would apply to those students who have been adjudicated as delinquent because of a violent offense. We want to make sure once they are eligible to return to school that if the victim is a fellow student, that student will be notified and will be able to tell the school he or she want to avoid contact with the attacker,” said Laster, D-Shawnee.

Laster said the school may then consider options such as alternative education, ensuring the offender is not enrolled in the same classes at the same time as their victim, or perhaps transferring the student to another facility.

“What we want to do is protect students from further victimization by making sure they are free from harassment or intimidation. This legislation simply lets the victim know beforehand that the attacker is returning to school. It also ensures the student has the right to say if he or she doesn’t feel safe around the offending student so that other arrangements can be made,” Laster said. “As a father, that’s the very least I’d want for my children if they became the victim of another student. I believe thousands of other Oklahoma parents would feel the same way.”