The Criminalization of Black Survivors of Domestic Violence
In our work to end the criminalization of Black women & girls, it is impossible not to talk about survivors of domestic violence: Black women disproportionately experience domestic violence and intimate partner violence, with 54% facing stalking, physical, or sexual violence in their lifetimes.
As we close out Domestic Violence Awareness Month, here are some key facts that offer insight into the pathways to criminalization for Black women and girls that domestic violence/intimate partner violence creates.
Black women are at high risk of dying from intimate partner violence: according to the U.S. Department of Justice’s Female Victims of Violence report, Black women victims of intimate partner homicide were twice as likely as white women homicide victims to be killed by a spouse. Because domestic violence and intimate partner violence can be deadly, those who experience it often engage in self-defense to survive. However, when Black women defend themselves from abuse, they are frequently criminalized for it, leading to their entanglement in the criminal legal system.
Domestic violence survivors are among the most criminalized women in the United States: among women in prison, 70%-80% have experienced violence from an intimate partner. For Black girls involved in the criminal or juvenile legal system, 84% have survived some form of family violence or abuse prior to confinement.
The criminalization of Black survivors of domestic violence is a multifaceted issue rooted in systemic racism, gender bias, and harmful stereotypes. Addressing these injustices requires both policy reforms and increased public awareness.
To help us end the criminalization of Black survivors you check out these resources:
Organizations
Survivors Alliance for Healing and Justice (SAHJ), a project of Communities United, is a survivor-led, intergenerational racial justice initiative.
Survived & Punished is a prison abolition organization. They believe that prisons, detention centers, all forms of law enforcement, and punitive prosecution are rooted in systems of violence, including racial, anti-trans/queer, sexual, and domestic violence.
Survivors Justice Project fights for decarceration through the New York Domestic Violence Survivors Justice Act (DVSJA).
Ujima: The National Center on Violence Against Women in the Black Community addresses the pervasive issues of sexual assault and domestic and community violence within the Black Community.
Curriculum
Leadership of Voices of Experience (LOVE) Project offers a training curriculum for victim service providers that build providers’ capacity to support system-impacted women and gender-expansive people—people who are transgender, gender non-conforming, gender queer, and nonbinary.
Helplines and Hotlines
You can take action now and help us end the criminalization of Black women and girls by staying connected with us or donating. You can also follow us to join the conversation and help us spotlight how Black women are disproportionately criminalized and how communities are leading efforts to change this.