Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Stephanie Damon-Moore
American Culture 302/03: Senior Project
Advisors: Professor Eileen Leonard, Sociology
Professor Mary Shanley, Political Science
Acknowledgements
This thesis has been shaped and supported by the young women I
have gotten to know at Poughkeepsie High School. Many thanks to
LizaBeth Urrico and the girls – Giovanna, Vana, India, Anisah, Tyra,
Sierra, Chavonne, Amber, Schquella, Kareenia, Sherika, and many
more – for the most inspiring, frustrating, and educational experience
of my life.
Thank you, Michael James, for getting worked up when I was worked
up, for your genuine interest in this thesis, for proof-reading at the end
of very long days, for well-timed cups of coffee, and for the flannel
shirt that has kept me cozy and warm for much of the writing process.
2
And finally, thank you to the men at Otisville – Reem, Marlon, El-Sun,
Chris, and everyone else who has touched my life. You are the reason
prison abolition matters to me.
Table of Contents
Acknowledgements p. 1
Introduction p. 3
Conclusion p. 90
Bibliography p. 100
3
Introduction
and she was a real character. She was a big talker, participating
mascot for the program: her attendance was better than anyone
else’s, she answered our questions when no one else would, and she
for all the participants for the final meeting, a celebratory potluck
dinner, both the high schoolers and the Vassar students had many
good things to say about Mariyah. But on the day of our final meeting,
4
from a night and a day in the Dutchess County Jail. She had been
arrested for shoplifting the night before, and, because she was
seventeen, was held until her father would come pick her up. Her
beneficial to Mariyah; he let her “cool off” there until the following
best participants. That day, instead of her affirmation poster and her
I never saw her again. The end of the year was just around the
corner, and that summer she moved to Albany to live with her mother.
But I will never forget Mariyah, or the night she spent in jail. Knowing
arrested or jailed, and a criminal record was the last thing that this girl
needed. But why couldn’t the store manager, the police, or the judge
but was doing the best she could and would do better with some
proper support. I believed that she was essentially a good person, and
wanted the shirt and I didn’t have any money” isn’t the kind of
5
argument that holds up in a court room, but behind that sentence are
the sociological facts that she was trained to want that shirt by our
line. If the store manager, or the police, or the judge assumed that
Mariyah must have plenty of good reasons for trying to steal that shirt,
simply trying to make her suffer enough so that she wouldn’t steal
anything in the future, her experience would have been very different.
It’s not surprising that they viewed Mariyah as the problem, and
punishment as the solution. Our criminal justice system does not have
space for a legal defense based on the consumer culture or the class
service. But our criminal justice system also isn’t reducing crime or
effective for Mariyah and for crime reduction would view her shoplifting
and address all the causes and effects of the crime. In this thesis, I
justice – as the most effective way to reduce crime and promote public
6
safety. My focus is on transformative justice as a response to crime,
Hunger and homelessness, for example, harm many more people than
idea of “crime” to extend far beyond the existing legal statures to any
response to violence that seeks the immediate and the root causes of
promote safety and well being. In this thesis, I use the term “violence”
7
differently for women based on their race, class, sexual orientation,
characteristics such as what they look like, who they work for, or who
they marry. Often there is not a clear line between interpersonal and
allowed the young men to make lewd comments without redress, but
punished the girls for dressing in a way that was “distracting” for the
young men. Thus these forms of violence stem from and reinforce each
other, and all forms of violence that young women experience must be
that violence, not only improving the immediate situation but also
8
The aspects of our society that need to be transformed are too
immediate reasons and the root causes. And then, the response is
and the effects of the violence, in this situation a crime. Thus, through
future, and what the offenders and the victims need, the
Alternatives to Violence Program workshops to describe a person’s ability to transform a violent situation
into a productive, non-violent situation. More information on Alternatives to Violence Programs and
Transforming Power is available on the AVP International website at
http://www.avpinternational.org/whatisavp.html
9
transformative justice for a particular demographic than for the entire
of all, all young women do not commit crimes for the same reasons.
shared gender and age group does not mean that our motivations
working class, mine is middle class and intellectually elite; she grew up
10
this thesis’ focus, I do not believe that transformative alternatives to
incarceration are a necessity for only young women, or that they are a
greater imperative for young women than for anyone else. The existing
criminal justice and prison systems are not only ineffective but are by
people who are willing to think about alternatives should have some
2.4 million people in jails, prisons, and detention centers, the U.S.
the U.S. While the arrest rate has been quite static in the last thirty
3
“National Criminal Justice Commission Act of 2009: The Scope of the Problem.” Office of Senator Jim
Webb, March 2009.
11
increase in the national prison population since 1980.45 The impact of
Black men, for example, are over seven times more likely than White
possible, for instance, that the growth in the prison population simply
reflects a growth in the crime rate. But the crime rates, in fact, tell a
different story. “Crime rates peaked in 1992 and have dropped sharply
remained high and continued their upward march.”7 The war on drugs,
use across the board had begun a decade before the draconian anti-
drug efforts of the 1990s were initiated,” Loury writes.8 Thus the war
4
Loury, Glenn, “Why Are So Many Americans in Prison?” Boston Review, July/August, 2007. p 7-10.
5
Mauer, Marc. Race to Incarcerate. 2006. New York: The New Press.
6
Ibid.
7
Loury, p. 7
8
Ibid, p. 8
12
increases in drug use.
Obsolete?, the term is used to name the idea that “prison construction
and the attendant drive to fill these new structures with human bodies
Using the name prison industrial complex to describe the U.S. prison
very different names for the same institution. Which, then, is the more
description from a state prison system comes from the New York State
9
Davis, Angela. Are Prisons Obsolete? 2003. New York: Seven Stories Press. p. 84
10
Ibid. p. 85
13
Department of Corrections mission statement. According to their
address the needs of all inmates so that they can return to their
And yet, it is far from clear that the Department of Corrections in New
over 60%, and higher incarceration rates are not reducing the crime
programs are the most effective way for the prison system to reduce
14
building, and maintaining prisons.14 Of the people re-entering society
family and friends creates mental, emotional, and legal obstacles for
struggle to gain custody of their children, find housing, and get jobs.
that could get them thrown back in state custody, parolees have the
to understand.
complex” seems to be the more accurate title for the prison system.
14
“Fact sheet: Prisoners Re-Entering the Community.” The Sentencing Project:
www.thesentencingproject.org, http://www.prisonpolicy.org/scans/sp/1036.pdf 1.23.11
15
Davis’s explanation that the prison system is maintained not as a way
strategies, we must “entertain the idea that the goal of our criminal
crime.”1516 Reiman destabilizes the generally held belief that laws are
Americans comes from below them, rather than from above them, on
the wealthy, and justifies the disadvantages of the poor and working
classes.18
16
presented convincing arguments for the corruption of the criminal
justice and prison systems. The evidence of the system’s failures for
the private corporations and investors that profit from everything from
today, we … do not believe that reforms can make the Prison Industrial
19
“Our Vision.” Critical Resistance. http;//www.criticalresistance.org/article.php?id=51 Retrieved 1.20.11
17
justice can be used to reshape our criminal justice system and our
crime, since I believe that it can both significantly reduce and replace
violent act but also works to eradicate violence more broadly. In this
reasons why young women commit crimes, but it sheds light on some
Chapter 2, I will demonstrate the failure of the prison system for young
18
chapters together present the imperative of alternatives to
and in helping to understand the past and present violence that young
practices.
crime because it is the only one that is willing to address the root
causes of crime.
works with young women who are or have been involved with the
juvenile justice system, and effectively works against the violence and
19
the prison system. The purpose of this case study is to illustrate how
to decarceration in the present and the future. The work of the CYWD
racism, sexism, and prejudices against people in prison and those who
radical project. Much of the prison system’s power stems from the
hope to chip away at the strength of the myths that crime necessitates
punishment, that prisons “keep our streets safe,” and that a society
without prisons would be more dangerous than the one we have now.
20
1 Violence Against Women: The impact of
sexist and intersectional violence
The young women who come in contact with the criminal justice
21
members, boyfriends, or pimps. But it also includes forms of violence
the young women who come into contact with the criminal justice
ways in which a woman’s race and class interact with the sexist
committed and the effects that it has vary widely. This chapter is not
20
I am framing this chapter primarily around violence derived from sexism, but the effects of racism and
classism are also incredibly important to consider when thinking about young, system-involved women.
This chapter therefore includes – and would not be complete without – a discussion of intersectional
concerns in addition to the effects of sexism. See: Crenshaw, Kimberle Williams. “Mapping the Margins:
Intersectionality, Identity Politics, and Violence Against Women of Color.” Critical Race Theory: The Key
Writings that Formed the Movement. Ed. Kimberle Crenshaw, Neil Gotanda, Gary Peller, Kendall Thomas.
New York, NY: The New Press. 1995. Pages 357-383.
22
their decisions to commit crimes. For that reason, the development of
to address crime.21
Sexual Violence
23
injury statistics indicate that between twenty-five and forty percent of
young women are sexually assaulted by age eighteen.22 For the young
like fifty to sixty percent or higher.23 Sexual assault and abuse has
from home, live on the streets, work as prostitutes, and commit violent
crimes.24 The emotional and psychological pain that results from sexual
immigrant women are less likely to know about or trust local service
22
Sexual assault statistics are notoriously difficult to determine accurately due to the likelihood that many
assaults go unreported. Thus estimates of the incidence of sexual assault vary widely. However, there is a
great degree of evidence that a large proportion of women are sexually victimized at an early age. A U.S.
Department of Justice survey on violence against women that reported that 17.1% of women had been
victims of a completed or attempted rape noted that more than half of those 17.1% were first victimized
when they were under age eighteen. Tjaden, Patricia & Nancy Thoennes. Full Report of the Prevalence,
Incidence, and Consequences of Intimate Partner Violence Against Women: Findings from the National
Violence Against Women Survey, at iv (2000). U.S. Dep't of Just., NCJ 183781. Retrieved on 11.28.10:
http://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/183781.pdf .
23
According to fact sheets from the National Council on Crime and Delinquency as well as the Health and
Justice for Youth Campaign, 40% of young women in the Juvenile Justice System have been raped, while
as many as 92% have experienced some form(s) of physical, sexual, or emotional abuse.
Statistics from Health and Justice for Youth Campaign, Unique Needs of Girls in the Juvenile Justice
System, Physicians for Human Rights,
http://physiciansforhumanrights.org/juvenilejustice/factsheets/girls/pdf
24
Schaffner, Laurie. Girls in Trouble with the Law. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press. 2006.
Page 60.
25
Ibid. p 60
24
breaking down the generally accepted understanding of what real men
argues. “Its force derives entirely from the human effort required to
sustain it.”26 The two sexual identities that America (and most of the
required to maintain our belief in sex roles. Any truly inherent qualities
25
between “sex and aggression” in men (but certainly not in women)
Within rapist ethics, it is right for a man to demand sex and wrong for a
woman to withhold it, so when a woman does not consent and a man
forces himself on her anyway, she is the one betraying her sexual
fault of the (female) victim, never the fault of the (male) perpetrator.29
female victims were flirting, teasing, asking for it, needing it, or liked it
at the time. While on the one hand taboos about incest and statutory
28
Ibid, 14
29
Women are not the only victims of rape and other sexual violence, and men are not the only perpetrators.
That said, women are much more likely to be victims (78% women to 22% men), while men are more
likely to be perpetrators against female or male victims. Source: The American Bar Association
Commission on Domestic Violence. Retrieved on 11.27.10:
http://new.abanet.org/domesticviolence/Pages/Statistics.aspx .
26
pervasive and well-publicized rapist ethics in fact often lead girls to
absorb even more blame and humiliation. The following testimony from
victimization:
Though Melanie’s family may not have reacted the way she predicted,
part for the offenses or for exposing them to the family and thus
would have internalized similar guilt or shame if rapist ethics did not
lead a victim to question her own judgment and silence herself. Being
her uncle tells her that her victimization should “make [her] feel
30
Richie, Beth E. Compelled to Crime: The Gender Entrapment of Battered Black Women. New York:
Routledge. 1996. Page 48.
27
culture that values her uncle’s adult, male voice over her young,
visitors, the abuse is often repeated for years. “I just tried to avoid
him,” Melanie says, “but he didn’t stop for the seven years that he
lived in our house. I was his ‘special friend,’ which means he raped me
the resources that middle- and upper-class girls can often fall back on,
poor young women of color who experience sexual violence often run
away from home, use and deal drugs, and work as prostitutes to
factors to the violence that young women commit down the road.
31
Ibid.
28
government because of offenses they commit and are thus addressed
Domestic Violence
rooted in the same sex role structure upon which sexual violence is
built. “Rape is not the only action that is congruent with the tacit ethics
another.”32 The rapist ethics that Stoltenberg outlines, that men must
and psychological abuse and often includes physical and sexual abuse
29
one cause of injury to women in the United States, sending more
incidents involve women who are older than the population that is the
violence and witness the abuse of their mothers and other female
by young women.
emphasizes this point in Next Time She’ll Be Dead: Battering and How
lesbian and gay male relationships reflect domestic violence that follows the same pattern and occurs at a
similar rate. Professor Dee DePorto, October 2009.
34
“Women in Prison Project: Fact Sheets,” from the Correctional Association of New York. Interrupted
Life: Experiences of Incarcerated Women in the United States. Ed. by Rickie Solinger, Paula C. Johnson,
Martha L. Raimon, Tina Reynolds, and Ruby C. Tapia. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California
Press. 2010. p. 265
35
Crenshaw, Kimberlé Williams. “Mapping the Margins: Intersectionality, Identity Politics, and Violence
Against Women of Color.”
30
to Stop It. “It’s vital to understand that battering is not a series of
and her only resource, and make her fear and obey him. Inevitably the
phases, men use many other tools to ensure their control and
domination: they may isolate their partners from family and friends,
children.
their marriages work, and by the time they know they can’t they are
36
Jones, Ann. Next Time She’ll Be Dead: Battering and How to Stop It. Boston, Massachusetts: Beacon
Press. 2000. Page 88.
31
often cut off from friends and family, lacking financial resources, and
reason why women of all ages become involved with the criminal
feed themselves or their children. Others are coerced into drug or sex
the system. Many battered women are unable to care appropriately for
their children, or unable to protect their children from child abuse that
degree homicide, describes the way that her own abuse and the abuse
37
Battered women typically become conditioned over time to devote all of their emotional and mental
energy to attempting to prevent the “explosion” phase. Their batterers teach them that they are responsible
for his outbursts, and thus they attempt to behave in ways that will prevent future explosions. Although no
behavior is sufficiently “appropriate” to prevent violence, batterer conditioning tactics nonetheless achieve
incredible control over victims. For scientific analyses of this phenomenon see: LaViolette, Alyce D. and
Ola W. Barnett. It Could Happen to Anyone: Why Battered Women Stay. Thousand Oaks, California: Sage
Publications, Inc. 2000. Pages 124-5.
38
Richie, 105-127
39
Richie, 108
32
Carolyn’s son ultimately died from the injuries her batterer inflicted
that day while she was sleeping. Though he was arrested and charged
crime and promote public safety, the traditional criminal justice system
and socially – for harm that comes to their children due to domestic
violence and child abuse. This double standard not only illustrates
Despite the mainstream claim that modern mothers and fathers share
33
abuse occurs, even when fathers are the clear perpetrators,
child has been victimized or not, women are often implicitly blamed for
responsible for the act,” the first response to domestic violence is more
violence itself and the social and legal response to it reflect sexism in
American culture.
physical problems, but also teaches them that violence is a normal way
generation of victims and abusers.”41 Both boys and girls who grow up
40
Bancroft, Lundy. Why Does He Do That? Inside the Minds of Angry and Controlling Men. New York,
NY: The Berkeley Publishing Group. 2002.
41
U.S. Department of Justice. “Domestic Violence.” Retrieved 11.28.10:
34
in domestic violence households are likely to be exposed to verbal and
Although boys and girls both experience these effects, girls have
themselves. And while young men often respond to the violence that
violence teaches young women that they are less valuable than men
and their voices are less valid than men’s voices. These messages
them to take their anger out on their own bodies. When a young
woman turns her violence outward rather than inward, she is viewed
http://www.ovw.usdoj.gov/domviolence.htm
42
Lundy, 8
43
LaViolette, Pages 27-30.
44
Schaffner, 130
35
as particularly deviant because her violence is making her more rather
Absorbing misogyny from the culture around them and from the
from forming the friendships that could help them thrive, or escape
get drunk and kick my girlfriend’s ass just like my dad gets drunk and
kicks my mom’s!”46 Thus for young women who are witnesses and
45
Schaffner, 142
46
Ibid, 136
36
the ways in which these forms of sexist violence victimize young
and classism with sexism. For the young women of color from low-
the racism and classism they experience often exacerbate the effects
barriers to leaving.
comes from very real understandings of the hardships that Black men
Down:
47
I use the terms “Black” and “African American” variously throughout this thesis, reflecting the different
terms used by the authors that I am citing. Furthermore, while Joan Morgan takes up the issue of loyalty in
her discussion of Black communities, but the same argument is made by different authors about all
communities of color and immigrant communities. Thus while I specifically describe the issue as pertaining
to “Black households,” it extends to all communities that have been victimized by racism in economic,
legal, and social institutions. See Richie and Crenshaw for further analyses.
37
more likely to marry outside the race.48
together. But she goes on to point out that although Black women
women, even as it asks women to forgive and take care of their men.
These pressures come from family members and friends, as well some
obliging men not to hit.” Crenshaw points out that this double standard
48
Morgan, Joan. When Chickenheads Come Home to Roost: A Hip-Hop Feminist Breaks it Down. New
York, NY: Simon & Schuster Paperbacks. 1999. Page 120.
38
with sexism to create unique problems for women of color. Women of
incarcerated at Riker’s Island, Beth Richie found that the women’s race
entrapment. The African American women were less likely than their
and less likely to feel comfortable calling the police making escape
stay with their batterers even longer and through more brutality, on
49
Crenshaw, Kimberlé Williams. “Mapping the Margins: Intersectionality, Identity Politics, and Violence
Against Women of Color.”
50
Schaffner makes a related assessment: “Well-off girls got molested and ran away too. But they had ATM
cards; private psychotherapy; social networks of family and friends with homes, spare bedrooms, and food;
and other opportunities to protect and heal themselves and propel themselves forward toward college,
marriage, and other middle-class goals.” p 64.
39
average, than the White battered women in the study. In addition to
hot plates, eat human feces, witness the physical and sexual abuse of
women are entrapped to the degree that Richie describes. Almost all of
the women whom Richie profiled escaped from their batterers only
when they killed their batterers or when they were arrested for another
crime.
Race and Class. Arguing that sexual violence against Black women is
51
Davis, Angela. Women, Race and Class. 1981. New York, NY: Random House. P 175
40
women. The stereotype of the “loose” Black woman is paired with the
damaging for them, it also contributes to the “loyalty” bind that Black
seeking a legal response or even just victim services may make them
perpetrator’s.
women has thus far focused on Black women, other groups experience
suffer egregious forms of social and legal violence when they are
52
Crenshaw, 5
41
battered and being deported. Even if they are protected by legal
rights, it is fairly easy for the batterer to deceive his victim regarding
equipped to offer advocates who speak Spanish, much less any other
language. And calling the police may end up bringing more violence –
been that domestic violence is “not limited to the streets of our inner
and coworkers who are being victimized.”54 While the explicit message
the implication seems to be that most people don’t care about what’s
53
Ibid.
54
Crenshaw, 15
42
violence is thus only a significant issue because it’s also happening to
response based on her needs rather than the inner city woman whose
described in this chapter are only a small sample of the myriad ways in
experience and the more veiled forms of social and political violence
both concrete and intangible levels, on the bodies and minds of the
also asked by our culture to silence their pain and anger, leading to
43
young women who do turn their violence outward. Marilyn Frye
relatively invisible form of violence that has the power to silence and
regulate young women who might otherwise speak out about their
to see many ways to get around it. If, instead, you can step back and
oppression, all the different acts of violence and double binds and lose-
limit their options like so many wires in a birdcage. They are alienated
blamed by our culture for their own victimization, and asked to remain
55
Frye, Marilyn. “Oppression.” Priviledge: A Reader. Ed. Michael S. Kimmel, Abby L. Ferber. Boulder,
Colorado: Westview Press. 2003. Page 14
44
quiet and well behaved or suffer serious consequences. They also
absorb messages about women and gender relations that have been
sexism, further marginalizing and silencing the young women who are
and forms of violence are some of the reasons why young women act
crimes are often perceived to be the only way for a young woman to
failures of the existing system, and to understand ways that the state
56
LaViolette, 34
57
Schaffner, 64, 92
45
2 Young Women in Prison
Most of the women and girls who end up in jail or prison are
youth, but for many women the experience of being incarcerated both
adds new forms of violence to their lives. Though the increased use of
glaring inadequacies and defects of the prison system for girls and
58
Chesney-Lind, Meda and Katherine Irwin. Beyond Bad Girls: Gender, Violence, and Hype. New York,
NY: Routledge. 2008.
46
women have led many organizations and activists to protest human
rights violations and other injustices, some reformers are far too short-
girls and women versus boys and men, for example, many reformers
point to parity with the male system as the way to “fix” women’s
women’s needs are different from men’s, as well as the fact that men’s
of looking for ways to make the system work better, any changes must
take into account ways in which the current system victimizes the
specific ways that the prison and juvenile detention systems violate
the physical and emotional well being of women and girls. Due to the
59
Davis, Angela. Are Prisons Obsolete? p. 60-83
47
the forms of violence and oppression that I focus on – including
juvenile facilities.
crimes rates. As Jane Sprott and Anthony Dobb point out in their
girls and boys to imply that any shift must be on the girls’ end negates
the possibility (and, in this case, reality) that boys are actually being
criminalized at a lower rate. Though there have been some shifts in the
types of crimes that girls commit, even these shifts aren’t as scary as
they sound initially. For example, while girls today are more likely to be
60
Chesney-Lind and Irwin
Sprott, Jane and Anthony N. Dobb. Justice for Girls? Stability and Change in the Youth Justice Systems of
the United States and Canada. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press. 2009.
48
of those charged with murder or manslaughter.61
Lind and Katherine Irwin describe four reasons why young women are
the conflicting increase in both protective and punitive youth justice for
first juvenile delinquency law in the U.S. (and in the world) was the
since its inception juvenile justice has been charged with both caring
49
subjects. The responsibility to “treat and control” delinquent children is
operate in the adult system as well (the system “keeps the streets
50
greater conflict because the government is expected to protect youth
above all. Thus, when youth are viewed as both wards of the states
networks for young women, the criminal justice system has turned to
of the prisons, and the high rates of physical violence that occur inside.
And as young women are convicted at higher rates, the penalties for
And just as critics have argued that early reformers were more
point out that “where white girls’ offenses were more likely to be
65
Chesney-Lind and Irwin, p. 177
66
“Record of Arrests and Prosecutions.”
51
white girls’ offenses were attributed to life-style choices.”67 This
people that the state needs to “treat and control” exposes one
In the same way that girls of color and White girls are
offender” population (in the same way that adult men are incarcerated
at much higher rates than adult women), but for certain crimes girls
area for which this is the case is “status offenses” or offenses that are
not criminal for anyone age 18 or over, such as “running away from
parents or legal guardians.”68 While both girls and boys are most likely
proportion for boys (4%).69 One of the most notable offenses for which
67
Chesney-Lind and Irwin, p. 167
68
Shoemaker, p. 3
69
Statistics from Health and Justice for Youth Campaign
52
mother’s boyfriend. While on the run from these sources of danger,
example, through drug use, drug sales, sex work” etc. Appropriate
state intervention for young women who run away from home, could
reduce both crimes that are committed by young women and crimes
safe residence and treatment and counseling programs, “girls who run
away are … victimized not only at home but also by a juvenile justice
system that is not prepared for the specific needs of girl delinquents.”70
parents and the state that girls cannot take care of themselves on the
streets (as opposed to boys). Thus, parents are more likely to call the
police if they have a daughter run away than a son, and the legal
protection.”
53
and violations in U.S. prisons is so high, in fact, that a U.N. special
federal prisons for women in six states in the U.S. and found numerous
women and corrections personnel. When asked why she was interested
officers:
71
“United Nations Report on Violence against Women in U.S. Prisons.” Interrupted Life: Experiences of
Incarcerated Women in the United States. Ed. by Rickie Solinger, Paula C. Johnson, Martha L. Raimon,
Tina Reynolds, and Ruby C. Tapia. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press. 2010. p. 46
72
Ibid. p. 50
54
from what time their lights go on and off to how many sanitary pads
they will rarely be held accountable.”73 Thus not only are women
are also hard-pressed to advocate for themselves and receive the kind
correctional officers themselves are often the people women are asked
73
All Too Familiar: Sexual Abuse of Women in U.S. State Prisons. New York: Human Rights Watch. Dec.
1996. P. 1
55
especially when testimony from other incarcerated women is
because the majority of women in prison are women of color and the
the toilet, in the showers and while they were undressing.” Women in
the most violent legal procedure is the strip search. “The state itself is
breasts, spread her legs and buttocks, and even remove her tampon if
74
“United Nations Report,” p. 51
75
Davis, Are Prisons Obsolete? p. 79
56
she is menstruating.76 This experience, most commonly used before
scholarship does exist indicates that the story is very much the same
for adult and juvenile facilities. In her article on abuse in the juvenile
justice system, Leslie Acoca writes, “the abuses that a majority of girl
receive within the juvenile justice system.”77 The Health and Justice for
Youth Campaign reports that, although girls represent only 11% of the
the substantiated sexual abuse cases. Thus the juvenile justice system
Not all of the violence that women are exposed to in prison and
57
possible by the system’s total control of the lives of women.78 In her
advocacy for pregnant and parenting young women who are involved
San Francisco Juvenile Hall. Though the bill was adopted by Juvenile
while we’re having our babies,” and “the right to recovery in the
advocate for such basic rights, other items on the bill point to even
78
While this is generally more extreme for women in prison, it should be noted that women in domestic
violence relationships are sometimes controlled to such a great degree that they experience violations
similar to those described in this section. However, it is generally the case that even women who are abused
on the outside experience new forms of state violence in prison.
79
Sanchez, Sophia. “Incarcerated Young Mothers’ Bill of Rights: From A Vision to a Policy at San
Francisco Juvenile Hall.” Interrupted Life. P. 319-320.
58
greater violations of pregnant and parenting women. Another right
asserts, “We have the right to not be handcuffed and shackled during
labor.”80 This right is key not only for incarcerated women, but for their
CYWD’s bill also defends the right to “see, touch, and speak with
important for women who are in prison or detention, and it is crucial for
studies,” the authors write. Yet in spite of the evidence of the value of
80
Ibid, p. 320.
81
Ibid.
82
Lee, Arlene F., Philip M. Genty, and Mimi Laver. “The Impact of the Adoption and Safe Families Act on
Children of Incarcerated Parents.” Interrupted Life. P. 79.
59
requirement that termination of parental rights (TPR) proceedings be
initiated if the child has been in foster care for “fifteen of the most
especially because sentence length has increased over the last three
than two years is quite high, and two-thirds of women in prison were
the primary care taker for at least one minor child at the time of their
incarceration.84
This means that for the majority of women in prison, the well
release extremely difficult. Contact with children who are far away,
living with guardians who do not approve of the mother, or who lack
incarcerated mothers never receive a visit from their children and one
incarcerated.85
83
Ibid, p. 77
84
“Women in the Criminal Justice System: Briefing Sheets.” The Sentencing Project. May, 2007. p. 5.
85
Ibid.
60
Through its capacity to physically remove mothers from their
children, limit the frequency and time of visits and phone calls, make
phone calls incredibly expensive, and force women to give birth with
care and poor reproductive health resources in general. The CYWD bill,
for example, lists the right to “regular check-ups and proper prenatal
system.87 This failure on the part of the criminal justice system is ironic
women who are negligent to fetuses they are carrying.88 Women on the
outside who fail to ensure the health of their fetus are increasingly
criminalized for it, while the failure of the system to provide necessary
86
“Amicus Brief Filed Against Telephone Surcharges Imposed on Families of New York State Prisoners.”
Dec. 4, 2006. http://www.sentencingproject.org/detail/Advocacy.cfm?Advocacy_id=17, 15 December
2010. Surcharges on calls from prison are estimated to make phone calls six times the price of non-prison
calls.
87
Sanchez, p. 319
88
Johnson, Kirk. “Utah Bill Would Criminalize Illegal Abortions.” New York Times, 28 February, 2010.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/01/us/01abortion.html, 15 December 2010
89
Dorothy E. Roberts interrogates the criminalization of drug use by pregnant women in her article
“Punishing Drug Addicts Who Have Babies: Women of Color, Equality, and the Right of Privacy.” She
exposes racism in the rate of prosecution, writing that though roughly equal numbers of White and Black
women are identified as using drugs while pregnant, Black women are ten times more likely to be
prosecuted for it. Furthermore, she points out that steps that would promote the health of the baby – drug
treatment for pregnant women, appropriate prenatal care, etc. – are often withheld from poor, Black
women. “The government’s choice of a punitive response perpetuates the historical devaluation of Black
61
In addition to the lack of proper prenatal care, the healthcare
military structure that assumes its subjects are healthy young men,
and staff often inflict pain while administering the tests.”91 For many
to avoid them.
are disrespectful of their needs and fail to listen to them when they ask
questions or offer ideas. Sheila Enders heard this complaint over and
women’s correctional facility. “Can you just stop for a moment and
62
doctor. “Maybe if you look in my face you will hear me better.”92 Many
Despite the fact that women in prison often have greater healthcare
92
Enders, Sheila. “Working to Improve Health Care for Incarcerated Women.” Interrupted Life. p. 262.
93
Ibid, p. 260
94
In A Woman Doing Life, Erin George describes her own miserable experiences with medical resources in
prison. The following anecdote is representative of her experiences: “Although normally I’m pretty
squeamish when it comes to blood,” she writes,” I’ve had to learn to remove the [ingrown] toenail myself;
the first time I went to medical to have it done by a professional, the nurse struggled for a few minutes to
remove it, then gave up because it was almost count time. She handed me a wad of cotton (contraband, by
the way) and advised me to ‘just stick it under your toenail.’ Then she charged me $5.” George, Erin. A
Woman Doing Life: Notes from a Prison for Women. New York: Oxford University Press. 2010. P. 134
63
treatment far more painful than it is in any other circumstances, and
violence in the criminal justice system, from their arrest through their
incarceration and in forms that are both reflected on the outside and
most common solutions suggested are parity (with men’s prisons) and
that the way toward a more just prison system is achieving parity
like arguments for gender equality, would look much more like
“This ‘separate but equal’ approach often has been applied uncritically,
64
to render women’s facilities ‘equal’ to men’s,” Davis writes.95 She cites
so closely to the parity ideal that she was outraged about the
prison. “It does not occur to her that a more productive version of
for prisons in her historical analysis of the carceral state, The Prison
the U.S. has been historically more inclined to “level down” to make
things equally bad. “Prison reform in the United States has historically
“advantages” of the men’s system thus not only sets the bar for
improvements very low, it also opens the door for “leveling down” to
95
Davis, p. 74
96
Ibid. p. 75
97
Gottschalk, Marie. The Prison and the Gallows: The Politics of Mass Incarceration in America. New
York, NY: Cambridge University Press. 2006. P. 249
65
system for women is prison expansion. Guided by reports of
and located in urban areas – they would not differ significantly from
lead to the closure of any existing facilities, thus adding beds to the
system overall.
98
Braz, Rose. “Kinder, Gentler, Gender Reponsive Cages: Prison Expansion is not Prison Reform.”
Women, Girls, & Criminal Justice October/November 2006. p. 87-91
66
be with their families (and prevent the construction of new correctional
teaches us better than anything else,” Braz writes, “If we build them,
that they fail to recognize the real problems in women’s prisons and
responses that are far more radical than simply equalizing the number
99
Ibid. p. 87
100
Ibid.
67
and Braz argue, the best “reform” is not a true reform at all – it is the
take into account not only the violence that young women experience
at home and on the streets, but also the violence and failures of the
prison and detention systems. In the next chapter, I will outline four
decarceration and abolition, and offers the best solution to the kinds of
injustice that are prevalent in the criminal justice and juvenile justice
systems.
We can see from Chapters 1 and 2 that our society and our
68
human rights. This awareness of the social reality of violence is crucial
penal system and their broader social context. Bearing in mind the
incarceration.
the alternatives described in this chapter are routinely carried out with
is talking about them, and how the two primary conversations about
69
alternatives differ from one another.
While these two conversations take up the same topic, they have
belief that the traditional prison is not a successful institution, and that
more razor wire, and more thirty-foot walls. Despite the wealth of
and seems to be the most feasible given the prevailing mindset about
70
system and serve the interests and needs of offenders, victims, and
communities.
The dominant conversation, the one that is featured on the six o’clock
for the American tax buck. The viable alternatives in this mainstream
mandates a prison sentence for any offender who does not carry out
71
Williams recognizes that the current system results in high recidivism
the difference between being able to raise her children and having
them taken from her. It may mean her receiving valuable job training
bid will probably not have to move away from her family, leave her
agency.
72
for instance, thus failing to consider ways in which the offender may
not seriously consider and address the needs of the crime victims.
Possible
This first conversation is the one that gets by far the most press;
73
what is feasible in the public consciousness. Therefore, as long as the
reform-oriented conversation is the one that gets all the airtime, any
and further the inequalities in America, this more radical camp argues.
the feminist movement should take when she wrote, “The master’s
tools will never dismantle the master’s house. They may allow us to
temporarily beat him at his own game,” she argued, “but they will
103
Lorde, Audre. “The Master’s Tools Will Never Dismantle the Master’s House.” Feminist Postcolonial
Theory: A Reader. Ed. Reina Lewis, Sara Mills. New York, NY: Routledge. 2003. p 27
74
Chapter 2, prisons are violent, degrading institutions. However, this
and the interests of the offender or the victim, and it is not likely to
experience. If she robbed the store because she needed the money,
sentence will probably not prepare her to get a job or find any other
reforms.
imprisonment:
104
Davis, Angela. Are Prisons Obsolete? p 107
75
mainstream “alternative sentencing” mode of thinking demonstrates
away from incarceration is more likely to prevent crime. Her belief that
to incarceration.
system that fails to address broader social and political violence at the
same time will be unable to meet the needs of the people who will
resources for a young woman who deals drugs for her abusive
domestic violence. This does not mean that a single office or agency
76
does mean that these efforts should be working in concert and not in
domination will not, in the final analysis, lead to decarceration and will
called into question. “The reality of crime as the target of our criminal
his text The Rich Get Richer and the Poor Get Prison.106 He argues that
105
Ibid, p 108
106
Reiman, p 39
77
minimized and overlooked. “We can compare the decisions [about
concludes that the way criminal laws reflect threats to public safety is
setting the safety and health of the community as the highest priority
urban areas – fade out of the profile of the “typical criminal.” A full
107
Ibid.
78
This definition of crime, and a definition of an appropriate
response as one that combats violence of all kinds, is not only different
The needs and desires of victims are largely disregarded. And when an
while the specific actions taken must vary, there are guiding principles
79
lists of questions, a traditional one and an alternative one, to approach
the restorative justice framework makes the hurt the priority, and
This new set of questions also opens up the possibility that the
offender is not the only one with obligations to meet the needs of the
itself has been used since the 1970s, and continues to be used to
describe a wide range of practices in the U.S. and around the world. In
108
Zehr, Howard. The Little Book of Restorative Justice. Intercourse, PA: Good Books. 2002. p 21
109
Ibid.
80
his foundational text Changing Lenses and then again, more concisely,
in his Little Book of Restorative Justice, Zehr outlines his own definition
of restorative justice:
an effort to meets needs that courts and prisons are ill fit to address. In
unhealthy mindset. She also faults it for failing to “take into account
110
Ibid, p 25
81
especially its racism and classism. She writes that the terms seems to
imply that “we had justice, and lost it,” while she believes that our
justice system and our society have never been just, and thus cannot
are the most significant vehicles of social injustice but because they
because we have cared for and included all, that community will be
111
Morris, Ruth. Stories of Transformative Justice. Ontario: Canadian Scholars’ Press Inc. 2000. p 19
112
Ibid.
82
emphasis on root causes is not a “soft” approach to crime that
from street crime and from all the other forms of violence that cause
fails at preventing the first type of offenses and does not even attempt
between the four approaches to crime that have been outlined. Morris
were thus the primary victims of the vandalism. I will suggest three
83
outline what actually occurred, a transformative response, which
Morris describes.
pay for damages. The offenders are also put on probation or even
enough. The Institute gets their property restored and the state gets
fined to pay for damages. They are required to repair the space
hours. The Institute gets their property restored and the offenders are
offense.
mediator. Together, they discuss the offense and the needs that it
created for the victim. The young people are asked to take
responsibility for their actions, and the group determines what the
obligations of the offenders are and how they will fulfill those
obligations. Some time is spent making sure that the offenders have
84
this is determined at this time. The victims have the opportunity to ask
the offenders any questions they might have about the offense, the
response is based on the real needs the victims have, and the
offenders’ needs are considered by the state. The offenders must take
off point for changes within the community. The community scheduled
113
Ibid. p 134
85
indigenous and white residents. Therefore, transformative justice
This dual consciousness has a potential for effective social change that
certainly not the easiest response for anyone involved in the short
a very lengthy and involved process. For victims, processing the crime
and its effect as well as confronting the offender and trying to move
the offender, the process necessitates that they admit guilt personally
86
to the victim and realize the weight of their act of violence. They are
to victims who often want reassurance that they have helped prevent
currently has all these flaws and more. Two thirds of people released
from prison are incarcerated again within five years. Victims frequently
ask the offender questions, they have no say regarding the sentencing
process, and they may suffer the invalidating experience of seeing one
or more of the people who violated their safety walk away with no
87
justice is in part justice for the victim, the criminal justice system
totally disregards the possibility that the victim may have desires and
needs that can’t be met through punishing the offender. And when the
are relevant to promoting public safety and community health, and yet
88
racism and other networks of social domination, their implementation
that the scariest offenders out there – child rapists, serial killers, etc. –
these are the criminals who spring to mind and inhibit serious
89
These transformative baby steps include starting conversations on
90
4 Alternatives at Work: The Center for Young
Women’s Development and Transformative Justice
“With a mission to empower and inspire young women who have been
involved with the juvenile justice system and/or the underground street
economy to create positive change in their lives and communities, the
Center for Young Women’s Development works to promote self
sufficiency, community safety and youth organizing by providing jobs
and employment training as well as teaching life survival and
leadership skills to young women who are affected by poverty, racism,
the war on drugs, and the prison state.”
– Know Justice, a publication of the CYWD
and in practice against the criminal justice system and the prison
system. The CYWD is the focus of this chapter because its values and
will most effectively address those causes and reduce crime. And their
91
work contributes to long-term goals of reduction in violence and
system. In this chapter, I will describe the ways in which the CYWD
different levels. The population of clients that the CYWD works with
92
particular, the CYWD offers programs to a wide range of young women.
recently released to women who are working and living on the streets,
etc. Though their clients are overwhelmingly young women from low-
the criminal justice system at some point, their paths to the Center
practice from the traditional criminal justice system. They work with
young women during and after their incarceration, they pursue policy
reforms, they publish resource guides, and they help young women
93
the many needs of their clients and their community, and they meet
those needs as much as possible through the work they do and the
experts on their own lives and the programs and policies that affect
them. These basic components of the work that the CYWD engages in
thus ensure that their clients will be taken seriously and assisted in
crucial ways that give them more freedom, unlike the restrictions and
CYWD works completely differently from the criminal justice and prison
systems. Yet despite their differences with the system, the CYWD
abolitionist efforts that can take hold today and continue to build.
While I was there, I had the opportunity to tour their space and
94
Sanchez, Executive Director. Though neither the women I spoke with
nature.
shows me around, explains that the space is divided down the middle
into the management area and the program area. As Program Director,
room adjacent to her office, there is plenty of evidence of the work that
goes on there. One wall is lined with computers for client use, while
with a large table and many chairs. “This is where the young women
hangs proudly from the walls. A large window in one wall looks out, not
onto the street, but into the room next door: the children’s room.
“While the girls are working they know their kids are right there; they
95
As she leads me to the entrance of the children’s room through
an open area with a sink, refrigerator, and microwave, she tells me this
kitchen space is one of their “hooks.” The CYWD uses free food, free
program room, for example, are there exclusively for the use of young
women, and the Center even offers money to their clients for
comes in for one thing, say, a free meal, we can get her talking to the
right people, get her signing up for a program,” Rodriguez tells me.
Confident that their programs are helpful for these young women, she
one” room. This room is an intimate space with only an armchair and a
a brief lie-down. Then the tour is over and we return to her office for
boxes. The boxes are donations, she tells me, of condoms and other
apparent that the CYWD’s process for this new initiative is in line with
96
the principles of transformative justice. Even before their work has
begun, the Center is orienting the program around identifying the real
regarding the needs of these young women, and then using the
outreach efforts:
We would never just run a curriculum and hope they like it.
97
We’ll constantly keep evaluating it, makin’ sure they get it,
do they understand the concepts, do we need to break
somethin’ down. Cause it’s a lot of stuff - it’s life skills, it’s
professional development, it’s political education, you
know, it’s so many different aspects.
have had on the programs of the CYWD. The organization itself, for
based on the needs that they identified while working on the streets. In
addition to the long-term changes that have been made based on their
clients’ needs, the existing programs are also altered year to year in
order to be most effective for the young women who are engaged in
them. After figuring out that several of the interns in one group were
the girl and saying, ‘Get away from the boy,’ ‘cause that’s not gonna
work, right?” In this case, the staff decided to alter the programming
self-defense.
98
women, and queer young women are best positioned to inform, guide
which clients are empowered to guide the work of the Center, the
have personally been involved with the criminal justice system in some
way. Thus shared backgrounds between both clients and staff guide
they’re one and the same. Several staff members are former clients of
approach:
experiences to inform the Center’s work. The young women who come
115
“Our Guiding Principles.” The Center for Young Women’s Development, http://cywd.org/about.html.
14 January, 2011.
99
into the Center as clients are not likely to be infantilized or demonized,
meeting the immediate and long-term needs of young women who are
Black and Latina, and provides job skills, health education, personal
Young Mothers United which promotes the rights of young women who
advocacy for young women who are being released from Juvenile Hall,
guiding them through the process and defending choices the girls
make about what parole terms they can agree to, foster care
placements that are acceptable, and other aspects of release that the
guides for San Francisco youth, in both English and Spanish, entitled
“Know Justice: your tool to fight for your rights and your freedom in the
100
juvenile justice system,” and “A Young Mother’s Guide to Surviving the
describes as the “weekly resource group for young women who are not
necessarily in one of our programs.” The work that all of these groups
the importance of providing tools and resources so that the clients can
the transformative justice spirit, all these programs are shaped around
the CYWD even pays the young women. Sisters Rising, for example, is
with the community, and develop skills, it is also a paid internship. “We
themselves, find their own housing, and find their own meals, and
places to stay,” Rodriguez tells me. When these women are raising
can be crucial to their being able to stay out of juvenile detention. The
101
in exchange for the completion of what Rodriguez calls “tool-kits.” The
parenting kit, for example, asks the young woman who is getting the
tool-kit to complete activities such as taking her child to the park, and
getting a library card with her child. A civic tool-kit asks women to get
their identification card and birth certificate, among other things. When
a member of the Sister Circle completes all the tasks in a tool-kit, she
those things and we’ll give you fifty bucks, right?” Rodriguez explains.
substantial amount of money for subway tickets or diapers, and all the
tool-kit tasks are geared toward enabling young women to move more
The CYWD works in many ways that look very different from the
clients’ needs, they hire only young women of color, and they work to
provide resources that give the young women agency rather than
stripping it from them. They are willing to work with young women who
are struggling in various ways – in and out of the system, trying to hold
onto their children, striving to support themselves, etc. And they are
they provide address both the immediate needs of their clients as well
102
as the personal and structural violence that they have experienced.
criminal justice system. One of their differences, she tells me, is how
each institution defines the “problem” that their clients are dealing
with.
While every juvenile detention facility that she is familiar with requires
that the anger these young women are experiencing is healthy; it’s the
correctional officers, and other state officials, she asserts that the
young women who enter Juvenile Hall angry have every right to stay
angry. While both Sanchez and Rodriguez generally feel that their
clients have made bad choices or gotten on the wrong path, both also
describe their role as educators and support people, there to help the
103
an illustration of their transformative justice mode of operation. Unlike
be stopped and fixed, the Center’s staff approach their work with the
assumption that there are more systemic – and totally valid – causes
for their clients’ behavior, and those are the problems they seek to
address.
When I ask her how the CYWD is different from the juvenile
their own – and how the CYWD works against the damage that juvenile
detention inflicts.
system had ingrained in this young woman, Rodriguez told her she had
to take responsibility for her own work. “Here it’s like ‘No, you’re the
leader girl - I’m not writin’ shit. You gotta write that letter.’” While the
clients – four or five interns usually quit within the first three months of
Sisters Rising, for example – it means that the young women who stick
with the programs ultimately have the satisfaction and skills that come
104
with independent success.
She tells me about young women who have built successful lives and
But at the end of the day they did it, they made the choice
to do it, and so I think that once you understand that,
transformation can truly happen because you put the
power back into the people who have the power to truly
transform.
Sanchez obviously respects the power and the potential of the young
women who come to learn at the Center, a respect for which the
centers are oriented around rigid rules and schedules, demand that
bathroom or checking a book out from the library, and train young
same young women enter (and exit) the Center by their own free will;
while there, clients are given space and support to heal, develop skills,
like “delinquent” and “inmate,” young women at the CYWD write their
which they transcend negative labels, and sociological forces that have
105
the Center empowers their clients to lead more stable lives, and to
work against violence in a variety of ways. Not only are they able to
recognize and work against violence that they have been victim to.
criminal justice labels are two of many ways that the CYWD differs
competition, violence, and isolation that their clients often absorb from
home, school, and Juvenile Hall. “So then they come here and have to
much more powerful when they are united and working together
against their shared oppression. “If that happened inside [Juvenile Hall]
they would have revolution in there!” she says. Though new clients
come with their own attitudes about other women, the intense
connecting with one another for practical and personal ends. Their
106
commitment to addressing the forces of violence in their lives – and
builds in impact with every client who going into the world to work
against the violence and oppression in her own life and in her
community.
criminal justice system and the CYWD: the widely disparate long-term
who become involved with the traditional system are caught in cycles
hard for formerly incarcerated people to pay for housing and avoid
will, and are likely to return to detention because they run away from
107
their placements, and young mothers have often lost custody of their
children or been unable to support a child when they are released. All
of these forces contribute to the likelihood that young women will end
up involved with the criminal justice system over and over again,
that their own children will grow up poor, shuffled from family member
allows the violence within prison and its oppressive effects on the
children, the job training and resources enable young women to find
and keep employment, and their education and support helps all their
system itself. “You don’t see it just transforming you,” Sanchez says of
the CYWD programming, “but that you know that when you make
through the young women who successfully develop tools the Center
108
tries to arm them with. “We hope that by producing these young
sees their work building as more and more young women participate in
consciousness.
asked about her vision for a prison-free society, she tells me about the
incarceration of youth:
One of the things that we said was if all the youth prisons
and juvenile halls were to open their doors today, where
would kids go? Where would they go, and would we want
our kids to go there? So we began to look at both
residential programs, mental health programs, programs in
the community that were actually run by community
people, who looked like the young people who were
coming out.
Ten years later, Sanchez was happy to say, the Youth Justice Network
has identified more than three hundred organizations across the nation
who are doing good work for system-involved youth. But of course
these organizations are just the beginning. The CYWD is one piece of
this network, but many more resources are needed to meet the needs
109
of young women like the CYWD clients.
provide all the resources and opportunities that their young women
need. Sanchez reports that across the nation, the most significant lack
out, sixteen, with a baby, there’s nowhere for her to go. So we’re not
clients. Though they can offer some young women temporary, part-
time employment and job skills, they can’t change the job market, and
come by. “Here it is we give them all the tools, the resources, we
them a permanent position.” Thus the young women who come to the
CYWD often have far more needs than the Center is equipped to meet.
Area who can supplement some of these needs, others go unmet. This
still affected by the social and economic realities that surround them.
110
Though the CYWD is a good example of transformative work
poverty, racism, and sexism that is so powerful in the U.S. and in the
world.
the violence and the oppression that young, poor women of color
visions” has meant that the impact of the Center extends far beyond
832 Folsom Ave; it stretches out with every young woman who leaves
the Center better able to represent her own needs and imagine and
with a vision of what might happen if the criminal justice system was
abolition might be achieved and what effect that would have on the
nation.
111
Conclusion
112
alter the criminal justice and prison system, because it is built on broad
root causes, and develop practices that address those causes while
But Marie Gottschalk makes a crucial point when she writes that
with the conservative groups that pushed for it. Gottschalk’s text
116
Gottshalk, Marie. P. 8
113
includes myriad points at which, presented with multiple options, both
against. But it also means that the kind of “political openings” that led
to the development of the carceral state will arise again – and this
time, they could be used to dismantle the system rather than expand
it.
that they are basically effective, if not for rehabilitating people then at
least for keeping the “public” safe, then when the time comes to make
likely to increase public safety and well being. But unless people can
114
crucial edge when those “political openings” present themselves. Thus
possibility.
powerful tools in the process of helping policy makers and the general
public come to terms with the idea that prisons are neither effective
117
Delgado, Richard. “Storytelling For Oppositionists and Others: A Plea for Narrative.” Michigan Law
Review, Vol 87, Aug 1989. Page 2439
115
nor indispensable. The more these counter-narratives can be
useful for the very people who are working toward the goal of prison
that the steps toward the end-goal are crafted deliberately and
116
to an evolved society, and I trust that people would generally
responses to crime.
The Shoplifter
Lisa calls the justice office in a panic. Her husband, John, has
been beating her viciously, and is now threatening to kill her son.
Justice officers are dispatched immediately, and luckily no more
damage has been done by the time they arrive. Recognizing the
117
domestic violence nature of the relationship, the officers
understand that they can’t leave the two alone, but Lisa is now
hysterical again at the thought of her husband going to jail. The
officers assure her he’ll be taken good care of, and call the local
battered women’s service provider to connect her with a
caseworker who can support her through this process.
John will, in fact, be taken good care of. Jail is not a cold,
vicious, degrading place, but a relatively modest central office
and a series of small facilities that resemble highly secured
homes. While those who are incarcerated are under heavy
surveillance, they are otherwise treated with respect. Only a few
offenders – particularly batterers, like John – are considered
dangerous enough to require constant confinement, so the
population in jails stays fairly low. Though John may never stop
posing a serious security risk to Lisa and her children, support
networks and mediation processes in which John is required to
take full responsibility for his violence and to recognize the pain
that he has caused may make his release possible. And while he
is in jail, the confinement itself will be viewed as the only
punishment; his quality of life will most closely resemble that of
people with physical or developmental disabilities who live with
full-time assistance – except instead of assistance, he will have
full-time surveillance.
Lisa and her children, however, are the first priority for the
justice officers. After connecting her with battered women’s
services, the officers will work with Lisa, her caseworker, and
perhaps other family members to identify her material and
emotional needs and provides her with sufficient resources.
Housing, food, healthcare, and many other immediate needs
may be jeopardized by her husband’s incarceration, and the
justice system recognizes that she must not be further
victimized.
But each new domestic violence case these officers get, and
they get a lot, is a reminder that there are forces functioning far
beyond the level of individual offenders. Thus addressing the
offender and the victim of a single case is not sufficient. Because
statistics demonstrate that the only batterers who have shown
any encouraging rates of “recovery” are teenagers, and the
absorption of misogynist conceptions of gender roles is the most
basic root cause of domestic violence, the justice offenders view
this event as one more reminder that resources must be applied
to raise awareness of domestic violence and to combat sexism.
Every time a batterer is incarcerated, $5,000 is contributed to
education initiatives that address domestic violence at its roots.
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The Drug Dealer
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heroin on a regular basis before she robbed a woman at
knifepoint and was compelled by the justice system to complete
an in-patient detox program. Tanya describes in detail the effect
her addiction had had on her children, her parents, and her own
life. A year and a half after her in-patient program was
completed, she is still struggling to rebuild her relationship with
her children, and suffering significant health problems because
of the drug’s effects.
Mark is very moved by what everyone has said, but also
knows that he still can’t get a decent job in his community.
Because situations like Mark’s dealing are used to pinpoint
structures that must be in some ways improved, the state
mediator takes this opportunity to make recommendations to the
state about the schools that Mark attended, the job market in his
community, and the welfare benefits. The mediator makes
powerful arguments to the state regarding the positive chain
reactions set off by good welfare benefits, including higher
revenue for local businesses, reduced use and dealing of drugs,
and a substantial reduction of the number of children living in
poverty.
Ultimately, Mark will volunteer with the youth program
coordinator three days per week for a year, and get connected to
many families in his neighborhood that way. He gains a variety of
job skills through his volunteer position, and is proud of the work
that he does. He receives an emergency financial services grant
from the Department of Social Services to support his living
expenses and fund GED classes, but his case and many others
also put into the works dramatic changes to the welfare state,
which eventually expands to reduce greatly the marginal
benefits of dealing drugs.
The Fighter
120
at home, but will meet twice weekly with her advocate and also
join a support group for victims of child abuse. Her father is
brought in to the justice office, and his own intervention process
is begun.
But Miranda must also take responsibility for the harm she
has inflicted. Shortly after, Miranda sits down with her mother,
the girl she was fighting, the girl’s mother, a counselor from their
high school, and a state mediator meet to discuss the fight.
Though the justice office knows that part of the reason that
Miranda struggles to work out conflict non-violently is the abuse
that her father has inflicted on her, they also know that Miranda
needs to work out the specifics of this incident, and that the
victim deserves a response.
Miranda discusses her feeling about a look the girl was
giving her, but acknowledges that she could have chosen a
different way to respond. She said she felt hot and impulsive and
unable to control herself, but she was sorry after the fact.
Her victim, Anisah, describes her physical and emotional
suffering after the fight. She talks about feeling more distrustful
of other students, and about the logistical challenges of daily life
with one arm in a sling. She says she’s been having bad dreams
about the fight, and feels vulnerable when she’s not with friends
or family. Anisah’s mother describes being scared every time the
phone rings, and worrying whenever Anisah leaves the house.
Miranda apologizes for the pain she has caused Anisah and
her mother, and admits that she had no idea the effects of her
actions could be so profound. The state mediator describes some
of the obligations that offenders in these situations have been
asked to fulfill, and together Miranda, Anisah, and the girls’
mothers decide that Miranda will write an article for the high
school newspaper about the impact of fighting on the people
involved and the school environment, and will work for Anisah’s
family for an hour a day until her arm can come out of the sling
doing the chores Anisah usually does.
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confined for the rest of his life. He is sent to a small, secure
facility with ample mental health resources. While there, Robert
collaborates with the state to help his victims’ families come to
terms with their losses.
During the process, it becomes clear that, like many serial
killers, Robert was the victim of extreme physical and sexual
abuse as a child. Through his writing and his collaboration with
psychologists, service providers, and activists, Robert joins the
fight against child abuse. Though he lives out his life in
confinement, he is treated with respect, given comfortable
housing, and empowered to have a positive impact on the lives
of others.
Though both The Batterer and The Serial Killer are deemed unsafe and
violence that these two offenders have brought into the world, the
members of our society despite their negative actions, and they are
because they are valued as human beings and because with their
needs met, they are much less likely to continue engaging in criminal
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behavior. Victims are also valued and given voice. In these scenarios,
a part of the decision making process, and typically get some kind of
from the current role of the criminal justice system. One of the most
expand the welfare state in order to allow poor people to live decent
bills, etc.
123
But the most important piece of all of this is that right now, there
are people whose lives are being hidden away, put on hold, stunted,
prison, but they are the exception, not the rule; they usually happen
despite the prison institution, not because of it. When I heard about
Mariyah going to jail, my first thought was what a horrible waste that
was, taking a girl who obviously needed a lot of support and instead
handing her a terrible twenty-four hours that would no doubt stick with
her forever. And that was only one day. The real imperative for change
comes from the people who are there now, the people who go to the
parole board and get “hit” with another two years, and the people who
visits and phone calls. It comes from the people who have never seen
a cell phone, and the people who haven’t slept late in decades, the
people who can’t make their own sandwiches, whose family members
pass away without saying good-bye, who no longer receive letters, who
will never have the right to vote, who are devalued and forgotten
about for the days, weeks, months, and years that they spend in
prison. And it comes from the people who, if they are released, are
feared, ignored, avoided, and disrespected. It’s for them that the
system needs to change, and for our society as well, which is stunted
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The American people have the capacity and the responsibility to
years we can undo the carceral state and construct a system of justice
change.
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Scholarship
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Websites
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