Words of Fire: Stories of Gender Entrapment of Black Women Remanded to Connecticut's Family Violence Education Program

• In Event: Creating a Space of/for Contestation and Freedom

Abstract

In 1996, anti-violence scholar Beth Richie released, Compelled to Crime: The Gender Entrapment of Battered Black Women. Since its publication, abolition and Black Feminist criminologists continue to explore how punitive policy processes have contributed to the criminalization of domestic violence survivors.

An extension of Richie’s work, this paper uncovers the experiences of Black women remanded to Connecticut’s Family Violence Education Program.

This paper concludes with comprehensive policy suggestions aimed to ensure Black women who experience domestic violence are (1) protected from the criminal/legal system and (2) have access to resources that are both culturally specific and trauma informed.

Presenter

• FREDA GRANT, Yale University