Journalist: Kameron Sanders (TCC)
It is amazing to learn that there needs to be a law that prohibits certain inquiries and
questioning of rape victims. Oklahoma has a rape shield law that protects the privacy of rape
victims for the sake of preventing the discredit of the victim because of any personal information
that may be used against them. Karson Kuykendall presented a bill that amends the Oklahoma
rape shield law to prohibit the inquiry of any information of the victims of rape that does not
directly relate to the rape case.
When passed, the amendment prohibits any questioning of prior sexual history,
appearance at the time of the assault, and any other evidence or inquiries that are not necessary
for the sake of protecting the victim’s reputation and privacy. Any questions asked by law
enforcement that does not align with the sexual assault case or dives into personal information
will be disregarded. When called into question, this personal information can lead to the
discrediting of the victim and make it more difficult for a civil and criminal case to move
forward with the credit of the victim being called into question.
Overall, there was a broad agreement and many people decided that the amendment
should pass. I believed that this was already apart of the law and voted in support of the
amendment. Caucusing was interesting because, like many of the assault bills presented before it,
everyone stated that this bill was an “easy pass.” A motion was made that the bill should pass by
acclimation. This motion passed unanimously, and the senate accepted the bill on acclimation.
In the end, OSU – 007 passed with by acclimation. The entire senate agreed that the bill
ought to move forward because of its necessity to Oklahoma’s rape shield law. All sexual assault
cases shall not involve any questioning by law enforcement that does not directly focus on the
case.