{"data":{"id":"us-ok/okla.-stat.-tit.-22-22-1601","jurisdiction":"us-ok","citation":"Okla. Stat. tit. 22, § 22-1601","heading":"Creation – Powers and duties","body":"A. There is hereby created the Domestic Violence Fatality\n\nReview Board within the Office of the Attorney General. The Board\n\nshall have the power and duty to:\n\n1. Coordinate and integrate state and local efforts to address\n\nfatal domestic violence and create a body of information to prevent\n\ndomestic violence deaths;\n\n2. Collect, analyze and interpret state and local data on\n\ndomestic violence deaths;\n\n3. Develop a state and local database on domestic violence\n\ndeaths;\n\n4. Improve the ability to provide protective services to\n\nvictims of domestic violence who may be living in a dangerous\n\nenvironment;\n\n5. Improve policies, procedures and practices within the\n\nagencies that serve victims of domestic violence; and\n\n6. Enter into agreements with other state, local or private\n\nentities as necessary to carry out the duties of the Domestic\n\nViolence Fatality Review Board including, but not limited to,\n\nconducting joint reviews with the Child Death Review Board on\n\ndomestic violence cases involving child death or child near-death\n\nincidents.\n\nB. In carrying out its duties and responsibilities, the Board\n\nshall:\n\n1. Promulgate rules establishing criteria for identifying cases\n\ninvolving a domestic violence death subject to specific, in-depth\n\nreview by the Board;\n\n2. Conduct a specific case review of those cases where the\n\ncause of death is or may be related to domestic violence;\n\n3. Establish and maintain statistical information related to\n\ndomestic violence deaths, including, but not limited to, demographic\n\nand medical diagnostic information;\n\n4. Establish procedures for obtaining initial information\n\nregarding domestic violence deaths from law enforcement agencies;\n\n5. Review the policies, practices, and procedures of the\n\ndomestic violence protection and prevention system and make specific\n\nrecommendations to the entities comprising the domestic violence\n\nprevention and protection system for actions necessary for the\n\nimprovement of the system;\n\n6. Review the extent to which the state domestic violence\n\nprevention and protection system is coordinated with law enforcement\n\nand the court system and evaluate whether the state is efficiently\n\ndischarging its domestic violence prevention and protection\n\nresponsibilities;\n\n7. Request and obtain a copy of all records and reports\n\npertaining to a domestic violence death case of the victim,\n\nperpetrator or any other person cohabitating in the domicile at the\n\ntime of the fatality that is under review, including, but not\n\nlimited to:\n\na. the report of the medical examiner,\n\nb. hospital records,\n\nc. school records,\n\nd. court records,\n\ne. prosecutorial records,\n\nf. local, state, and federal law enforcement records,\n\nincluding, but not limited to, the Oklahoma State\n\nBureau of Investigation (OSBI),\n\ng. fire department records,\n\nh. State Department of Health records, including birth\n\ncertificate records,\n\ni. medical and dental records,\n\nj. Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse\n\nServices and other mental health records,\n\nk. emergency medical service records,\n\nl. files of the Department of Human Services,\n\nm. records of the Oklahoma Department of Corrections, and\n\nn. records in the possession of the Child Death Review\n\nBoard when conducting a joint review pursuant to\n\nparagraph 6 of subsection A of this section.\n\nConfidential information provided to the Board shall be maintained\n\nby the Board in a confidential manner as otherwise required by state\n\nand federal law. Any person damaged by disclosure of such\n\nconfidential information by the Board or its members which is not\n\nauthorized by law may maintain an action for damages, costs and\n\nattorney fees pursuant to The Oklahoma Governmental Tort Claims Act;\n\n8. Maintain all confidential information, documents and records\n\nin possession of the Board as confidential and not subject to\n\nsubpoena or discovery in any civil or criminal proceedings;\ne of such\n\nconfidential information by the Board or its members which is not\n\nauthorized by law may maintain an action for damages, costs and\n\nattorney fees pursuant to The Oklahoma Governmental Tort Claims Act;\n\n8. Maintain all confidential information, documents and records\n\nin possession of the Board as confidential and not subject to\n\nsubpoena or discovery in any civil or criminal proceedings;\n\nprovided, however, information, documents and records otherwise\n\navailable from other sources shall not be exempt from subpoena or\n\ndiscovery through those sources solely because such information,\n\ndocuments and records were presented to or reviewed by the Board;\n\n9. Conduct reviews of specific cases of domestic violence\n\ndeaths and request the preparation of additional information and\n\nreports as determined to be necessary by the Board including, but\n\nnot limited to, clinical summaries from treating physicians,\n\nchronologies of contact, and second opinion autopsies;\n\n10. Report, if recommended by a majority vote of the Board, to\n\nthe President Pro Tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House\n\nof Representatives any gross neglect of duty by any state officer or\n\nstate employee, or any problem within the domestic violence\n\nprevention and protection system discovered by the Board while\n\nperforming its duties; and\n\n11. Exercise all incidental powers necessary and proper for the\n\nimplementation and administration of the Domestic Violence Fatality\n\nReview Board.\n\nC. The review and discussion of individual cases of a domestic\n\nviolence death shall be conducted in executive session. All other\n\nbusiness shall be conducted in accordance with the provisions of the\n\nOklahoma Open Meeting Act. All discussions of individual cases and\n\nany writings produced by or created for the Board in the course of\n\ndetermining a remedial measure to be recommended by the Board, as\n\nthe result of a review of an individual case of a domestic violence\n\ndeath, shall be privileged and shall not be admissible in evidence\n\nin any proceeding. The Board shall periodically conduct meetings to\n\ndiscuss organization and business matters and any actions or\n\nrecommendations aimed at improvement of the domestic violence\n\nprevention and protection system which shall be subject to the\n\nOklahoma Open Meeting Act. Part of any meeting of the Board may be\n\nspecifically designated as a business meeting of the Board subject\n\nto the Oklahoma Open Meeting Act.\n\nD. The Board shall submit an annual statistical report on the\n\nincidence and causes of domestic violence deaths in this state for\n\nwhich the Board has completed its review during the past calendar\n\nyear including its recommendations, if any, to the domestic violence\n\nprevention and protection system. The Board shall also prepare and\n\nmake available to the public, on an annual basis, a report\n\ncontaining a summary of the activities of the Board relating to the\n\nreview of domestic violence deaths, the extent to which the state\n\ndomestic violence prevention and protection system is coordinated\n\nand an evaluation of whether the state is efficiently discharging\n\nits domestic violence prevention and protection responsibilities.\n\nThe report shall be completed no later than February 1 of the\n\nsubsequent year.","path":["OK Code","Title 22"],"source_url":"https://www.oklegislature.gov/OK_Statutes/CompleteTitles/os22.pdf","current_through":"2026-08-14","vintage":"open-us-law v2026.08, retrieved 2026-09-14","retrieved_at":"2026-09-14T18:32:36Z","sha256":"1f107f6be7440c5a7ad291d3faa2f5930523e6dc2cf7e571f8afb5ef6b67294c","source_id":"us-ok","stale":false,"prev":"us-ok/okla.-stat.-tit.-22-22-153","next":"us-ok/okla.-stat.-tit.-22-22-1602"},"notice":"GroundRules: Original legal text. Not legal advice."}