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The Oklahoma Senate has approved legislation that would make domestic abuse committed in front of a child a felony, increasing penalties for offenders across the state. Senate Bill 1238, authored by Sen. Bill Coleman, (R) Ponca City, passed Monday by a 42–3 vote. Under current law, a first offense is treated as a misdemeanor.

Coleman argued that when violence happens in front of children, the damage goes well beyond the adults involved. Research cited by the senator shows girls raised in abusive homes are six times more likely to remain in abusive relationships later in life, while boys who witness their mother being abused are ten times more likely to abuse a partner as adults. Coleman said the goal of the legislation is to interrupt a cycle that tends to repeat itself generation after generation.

If signed into law, the bill would raise the minimum penalty for a first conviction of domestic abuse in the presence of a child to one to five years in prison and fines up to $7,000. That’s a noticeable jump from the current penalty of six months to one year in jail. The proposal grew out of an interim study Coleman held last October examining Oklahoma’s ongoing domestic violence crisis. Senate Bill 1238 now heads to the Oklahoma House of Representatives, where Rep. John Pfeiffer, R–Orlando, is the primary author.