Women face harsher punishments when it comes to self-defense laws

On January 8, 2025, Lisa Moss walked free out of a rural Oklahoma courthouse, with credit for time served, after serving 34 years of a life-without-parole sentence. Moss’s brother had shot and killed her domestic abuser in 1990, admittedly at her request, following the repeated rape of Moss and molestation of her daughter. Moss received a harsher sentence than her brother, based upon charges of solicitation and conspiracy to commit murder. No expert was called at the first trial to present evidence of her past trauma, and “battered women syndrome” was not available at the time as a potential defense.

Oklahoma courts have traditionally trapped many survivors in no-win situations, meting out some of the longest sentences in the nation for “failure to protect children” while also punishing women who do defend their children or themselves with lethal force.

Unlike the success of stand-your-ground (SYG) laws for men who have used lethal force in self-defense, women who have used lethal force in defending themselves against abusers face longer sentences, reflecting gender bias in application of SYG laws. Research shows very few successes of these cases at trial, demonstrating an urgent need for alternative solutions.

The passage of the Oklahoma Survivors’ Act in May 2024 offers new hope to survivors of violence, exploitation, and trafficking. The nonprofit Oklahoma Appleseed Center for Law and Justice encoded defenses for survivors who can show that they were experiencing abuse and fearing for their safety at the time they committed the crime. Appleseed worked with the legislature to encode meaningful reductions in the sentencing ranges for survivors whose crimes are intertwined with their victimization. This act also provides a pathway for people who have been forced into illegal activities, under duress or as victims of trafficking, to clear their names and reclaim their futures. Appleseed has also conducted continuing legal education for attorneys on the nuances of the Oklahoma Survivors’ Act.

The act provides definitions for “domestic violence,” “post-traumatic stress disorder” (PTSD), and “psychological abuse,” and, most important, states that expert testimony from a psychologist may be submitted to the court as evidence showing that the person has been diagnosed with PTSD. Psychologists have a key role to play in the successful implementation of the act because of their knowledge and skills to offer expert testimony on the effects of trauma on the brain and characteristics of decision-making by those who are subject to violence in relationships.

As a result of this legislation, the judge in Moss’s case found that domestic violence and sexual assaults were significant contributing factors in her crime and that she had already overserved the new maximum of 30 years under the act. (If she were tried today for this crime, the outcome may have been far different.)

Unfortunately, only two states, New York and now Oklahoma, have passed legislation allowing a history of intimate partner violence to be considered at sentencing or resentencing. Many other states, including Louisiana, Oregon, and Minnesota, have considered but have not passed similar legislation. Such laws could change the trajectory for many teenagers and women, such as Wisconsin child sex trafficking victim Chrystul Kizer, who was sentenced to 11 years in prison for second degree murder after killing her trafficker in self-defense.

As these laws are applied in practice, psychologists have an important role to play in educating the courts about the effect of prolonged abuse on the brain and the equal right to self-defense.