A report issued by the Women in Prison Project of the Correctional Association of New York. examines the connection between women who were abused and the crimes they commit. From Protection to Punishment, which was co-authored by Avon Global Center for Women and Justice at Cornell Law School, is part of a campaign to change the way the criminal justice system responds to domestic violence survivors who act to protect themselves from an abuser's violence. Although some of the studies in this report were done several years ago, the statistics have not changed much, as the criminal justice problems victims of domestic abuse face continue. Among several recommendations included in the report is a call for support for the Domestic Violence Survivors Justice Act.
Some of the findings of the report include:
A 1999 report by the federal Bureau of Justice Statistics, the most recent study assessing abuse history prevalence among women in state prisons across the country, found that 57% of women in state facilities had experienced physical or sexual abuse prior to their incarceration. (note: The authors of this report believe this number has been underestimated.)
A 1999 study of women in New York’s Bedford Hills Correctional Facility, which found that 94% of the women studied had experienced physical or sexual abuse in their lifetime, 82% had been severely physically or sexually abused as children, and 75% had suffered serious physical violence by an intimate partner during adulthood.
The crimes for which women are incarcerated are often directly related to domestic abuse. The New York State Department of Correctional Services, for example, found that 67% of women sent to prison in 2005 for killing someone close to them were abused by the victim of their crime.
A 1996 study by the (NY) State Division of Criminal Justice Services reported that 93% of women convicted of killing intimate partners had been physically and sexually bused by an intimate partner during adulthood.
The report offers recommendations to the NY Governor Andrew Cuomo and legislators which include:
Enact legislation, such as the pending Domestic Violence Survivors Justice Act, that would: (1) reform sentencing laws and the Jenna’s Law* domestic violence exception to permit judges to sentence survivor-defendants to shorter, determinate terms and to community-based ATI programs in cases where the abuse was a significant contributing factor to the crime; and (2) permit currently incarcerated survivors to petition the courts to review their cases for resentencing.
Allocate funds to expand and establish more ATI, court advocacy, and reentry programs specifically designed to meet the needs of domestic violence survivor-defendants.
Fully fund organizations that provide support services for survivors of violence and ensure that funding streams permit organizations – who may currently receive funding that prohibits them from working with survivors after arrest – to continue to work with and advocate for survivors regardless of criminal justice involvement.
Eliminate punitive collateral consequences of conviction and incarceration for all individuals, including survivor-defendants. Such measures should include: increasing access to and ending discrimination against formerly incarcerated people in housing, employment, and higher education; enhancing protection of parental rights for currently and formerly incarcerated parents with children in foster care; expanding visiting and reunification programs for all families separated by incarceration; ensuring immediate access to health insurance upon release; and removing restrictions on voting for individuals with felony convictions.
The report further suggests that New York State District Attorneys:
Participate in regular, comprehensive training on domestic violence and experiences of survivor-defendants.
Carefully weigh evidence of domestic violence when deciding whether to prosecute a case or what charges to bring against a survivor-defendant. For cases where there is clear indication that the abuse was a significant contributing factor in the alleged crime, institute an office-wide policy for prosecutors either to lower charges to permit defendants to serve time in community-based ATI programs or to refrain from presenting the case to the grand jury for action.
Defense Attorneys are asked to:
Participate in regular, comprehensive training on domestic violence and battering and its effects, including how to safely and effectively investigate whether a client’s history of abuse is directly related to the crime with which the client is charged and whether the history of abuse is relevant to possible defenses and sentencing mitigation strategies.
New York State judges are also asked to participate in comprehensive training on domestic violence, and to use the limited discretion provided to them to sentence survivor-defendants to lower terms. Parole Officers, it is suggested, should make release decisions – for all incarcerated individuals, including survivors – that do not rely solely on the nature of the offense for which an individual is incarcerated and that give appropriate weight to an individual’s institutional confinement record and actual public safety risk.
* From Protection to Punishment describes Jenna’s Law as the following: "The State passed this statute as part of its 1998 Sentencing Reform Act – commonly referred to as Jenna’s Law." Among other things, 'offenses except the most serious (designated as A-1 offenses, which carry life as the maximum term) and requires that individuals convicted of violent offenses serve 85% of their sentence in prison. The law also increased sentence lengths for individuals convicted of first time violent felonies. The Jenna’s Law domestic violence exception permits judges to grant indeterminate sentences (i.e., eligibility to come before the parole board after completion of the minimum term) to survivors convicted of certain homicide or assault crimes against their abusers.
To view the full full report click here to go to website
|
|
|
|
