A Hoax Isn’t the Problem: Carlee Russell and the Plight of Missing Black Women & Girls

• In Event: Police-Victim Relations and Reporting

Abstract

This paper examines how Carlee Russell’s kidnapping hoax impacted the plight of missing Black women and girls. After Carlee’s hoax was uncovered, some claimed she made it harder for Black women and girls to be believed when they are legitimately missing. Carlee’s case did not make things worse for Black women, but it did highlight the prevalence of missing Black women and girls - cases that have always been legitimate and worthy of attention.

This paper examines the erasure of missing Black women and girls and argues that Carlee’s kidnapping hoax did not create this problem, a racist criminal legal system did. Missing Black women and girls simultaneously exist and do not exist in a criminal legal system where they are often seen as problems to be dealt with, not victims.

This perpetual dehumanization of Black women and girls contributes to their victimization, and the systemic silencing of Black women and girls renders them not beyond a state of missing to one of virtually non-existent.

Author

• Breea C. Willingham, University of North Carolina Wilmington