They Were Convicted of Killing Their Abusers. A New Law Offered a Second Chance at Freedom.

Reporting Highlights

Second Chance at Freedom: The Oklahoma Survivors’ Act allows imprisoned victims of domestic violence to ask for a reduced sentence if they can show the abuse was a driving factor in their crime.

Prosecutorial Resistance: Local DAs have raised concerns that the law encourages exaggerated or bad-faith claims and could allow anyone who has suffered abuse to seek a lesser punishment.

Reform Meets Roadblocks: One domestic violence survivor — serving a life sentence for her involvement in her husband’s murder — walked free, but others face pushback from prosecutors.

These highlights were written by the reporters and editors who worked on this story.