FEBRUARY 2026 | 11 THE OKLAHOMA BAR JOURNAL Statements or opinions expressed in the Oklahoma Bar Journal are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the Oklahoma Bar Association, its officers, Board of Governors, Board of Editors or staff. These advocates play a vital role. But they are not lawyers, and they are not independent. Their role is still situated within the prosecutorial office, meaning their advocacy is limited by the strategy, bandwidth and discretion of the prosecuting attorney. This structure leaves victims without a truly independent voice in proceedings. When a victim’s wishes diverge from the state’s litigation goals, there is no neutral advocate empowered to assert those interests in court. Unlike defendants, who are constitutionally guaranteed legal representation, victims must rely on the goodwill of the prosecutor or seek private counsel at their own expense, which most cannot afford. The absence of independent, state-funded legal representation means that victims’ rights remain contingent, not guaranteed. For a system that purports to honor victims’ dignity and participation, this is a profound and unresolved contradiction. A SURVIVOR’S PERSPECTIVE FROM INSIDE THE SYSTEM Before I studied case law or stepped foot into a courtroom as a legal professional, I was a victim of violent crime. Like many survivors, I entered the justice system not as a willing participant but as someone seeking safety, answers and some form of accountability. What I encountered instead was a system that, despite an evolving legal framework, often treated me as an afterthought. I was never even told that I had any rights as a victim. And being a young 19-year-old college student completely unaware of how the court system worked, I had never heard of victims’ rights. I was not given notice of hearings that I had a right to be present for, nor was I consistently notified of plea negotiations despite statutory mandates requiring such notice. Most significantly, I was denied the right to prepare and read a victim impact statement at sentencing. Later, when I learned about victims’ rights, I understood in retrospect what had gone wrong. It wasn’t because the laws weren’t there but because no one had enforced them. The system had failed to operationalize the rights afforded to me. There was no accountability, no remedy for noncompliance and no one assigned to advocate solely on my behalf. It is a troubling paradox: Victims are increasingly granted participatory rights under the law, but those rights are often honored only when someone with legal standing insists on them. Without enforcement mechanisms, these rights amount to well-intentioned promises, not legal guarantees. Even now, years later, I regularly hear from other victims who share similar experiences – who weren’t told they had any rights, whose victim impact statements were never read by the court, whose restitution claims were ignored or who were told by prosecutors that their input was unnecessary or unwelcome. These are not outliers; they are symptoms of a system that still struggles to treat victims as parties with agency. As attorneys, we understand the importance of procedural due process for the accused. But due process for victims, though not identical, demands its own rigor. It includes timely notice, the opportunity to be heard and the right to participate meaningfully in proceedings that impact their safety, property and emotional well-being. When victims’ rights are denied, there are few clear remedies. Oklahoma law theoretically allows victims to “assert [their rights] individually, through an attorney or lawful representative, or by request, through the attorney for the state.”16 But courts have been reluctant to grant victims It is a troubling paradox: Victims are increasingly granted participatory rights under the law, but those rights are often honored only when someone with legal standing insists on them. Without enforcement mechanisms, these rights amount to well-intentioned promises, not legal guarantees.
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