Black Women, Criminal Justice, and Violence

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kali N. Gross
Keyword(s):  
Black Women ◽  
Criminal Justice ◽  
Partner Violence ◽  
The United States ◽  
Intimate Partner ◽  
Colonial Period ◽  
Late Nineteenth Century ◽  
Late Nineteenth ◽  
Interracial Violence ◽  
Scholarly Attention

This essay offers a concise overview of black women’s experiences with early criminal justice, beginning with the colonial period and ending in the early twentieth century. It also identifies aspects of the historiography on black women and crime that merit greater scholarly attention. Historians have examined race and violence, particularly interracial violence, but should also explore intraracial violence in relation to gender, crime, and criminal justice. In an attempt to address some of these gaps, this chapter provides an overview of the incarceration of black women in the United States and explores intraracial intimate partner violence through a late nineteenth-century Philadelphia case. In doing so, it especially examines the conduct and motives of the black woman at the center of the crime.

Crime

2020 ◽  
pp. 33-51
Author(s):  
Benjamin Wiggins
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Criminal Justice ◽  
Data Collection ◽  
The United States ◽  
Late Nineteenth Century ◽  
Repeat Offenders ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Penal Institutions ◽  
Late Nineteenth ◽  
Collection Practices

From the mid-to-late nineteenth century, in the period after the use of branding and before the use of fingerprinting, penal institutions faced the problem of how to identify repeat offenders. In this interim, Alphonse Bertillon, a clerk in the Paris Prefecture of Police, developed an anthropometric system that measured the bodies of criminals at their intake and catalogued these measurements in order to identify them should they offend again. Calculating Race’s second chapter traces the importation of the Bertillon System of Classification to the United States, where its data collection practices were racialized. It then investigates University of Chicago sociologist Ernest Burgess’s 1920s work on this data set to build a formula for sentencing and parole decisions. The resulting algorithm from Burgess’s work relied heavily on race-based Bertillon data and factored race into its recommendations for length of sentence and supervised release, installing racial statistics as a key variable in matters of criminal justice.

Restorative Justice and Violence Against Women in the United States

2017 ◽  
pp. 63-84 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lorenn Walker ◽  
Cheri Tarutani
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Intimate Partner Violence ◽  
Criminal Justice ◽  
Law Enforcement ◽  
Restorative Justice ◽  
Violence Against Women ◽  
Partner Violence ◽  
Black People ◽  
The United States ◽  
Intimate Partner

Opposition to using restorative justice to address violence against women mainly concerns the fear that women will be re-victimized if they engage with men who endangered them. While law enforcement and criminal justice approaches are necessary to address violence against women, women's choices about when and how to use law enforcement and prosecution to address violence against them, should be respected. Exclusive criminalization of violence against women has not protected many and has further harmed marginalized and Black people. To address intimate partner violence, victims' needs for healing must be met including when the victim-offender overlap applies and an offender is also a victim. Ignoring healing perpetuates violence. Applying restorative justice and its foundational questions, during direct meetings between victims and offenders, or when they meet separately, can address the victim-offender overlap, reduce reliance on punishment, and increase healing.

To Turn the Whole World Over

2019 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Black Women ◽  
African Diaspora ◽  
The United States ◽  
Late Nineteenth Century ◽  
Black Internationalism ◽  
Political Agitation ◽  
Late Nineteenth ◽  
Methodological Approaches

Black women in the United States and across the African diaspora have historically linked national concerns to global ones. This interdisciplinary collection explores the varied ways black women have engaged in internationalism since the late nineteenth century through political agitation, consumption activities and economic pursuits, leisure and religious practices, as well as performance and artistic expression. The essays in this collection employ diverse and innovative methodological approaches and explore new sites of internationalism, including Australia, Germany, and Spain. By highlighting the range and complexity of black women’s ideas and activities across time and space, this volume expands the contours of black internationalism in the United States and across the globe.

Help-Seeking Behaviors and Barriers Among Black Women Exposed to Severe Intimate Partner Violence: Findings From a Nationally Representative Sample

2020 ◽  
pp. 107780122091746 ◽  
Author(s):  
Krim K. Lacey ◽  
Tina Jiwatram-Negron ◽  
Karen Powell Sears
Keyword(s):  
Intimate Partner Violence ◽  
Black Women ◽  
Mental Health Professionals ◽  
Partner Violence ◽  
Help Seeking ◽  
The United States ◽  
Sociodemographic Factors ◽  
Intimate Partner ◽  
Help Seeking Behaviors ◽  
Nationally Representative

This article examined general help-seeking utilization and barriers among U.S. Black women reporting severe physical intimate partner violence (IPV). Data from the National Survey of American Life (NSAL), the largest and most detailed survey on Blacks residing in the United States, were analyzed. Among U.S. Black women reporting severe physical IPV, many sought the help of a psychiatrist (13.8%) or other mental health professionals (14.0%). Multivariate findings revealed associations between help-seeking utilization and sociodemographic factors. Queries from open responses suggested potential cultural and ethnic differences between African American and Caribbean Black women reporting intimate partner violence in relation to barriers to help-seeking.

scholarly journals Prevalence of Intimate Partner Reproductive Coercion in the United States: Racial and Ethnic Differences

2019 ◽  
pp. 088626051988820 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kathleen C. Basile ◽  
Sharon G. Smith ◽  
Yang Liu ◽  
Elizabeth Miller ◽  
Marcie-jo Kresnow
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Black Women ◽  
Partner Violence ◽  
Adult Population ◽  
The United States ◽  
Intimate Partner ◽  
Racial And Ethnic Differences ◽  
Reproductive Coercion ◽  
Race Ethnicity ◽  
Nationally Representative

Reproductive coercion (RC) is a specific type of intimate partner violence (IPV). Although clinical studies have highlighted women’s experiences of RC, we know little about its national prevalence and differences in prevalence by sex category and race/ethnicity. Data are from the National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey (NISVS), years 2010 to 2012. NISVS is an ongoing, nationally representative random-digit-dial telephone survey of the noninstitutionalized English- or Spanish-speaking U.S. adult population. This article reports the national lifetime and 12-month prevalence of two RC victimization measures, and proportions among IPV victims. T tests were used to examine differences in estimates across racial/ethnic groups. In the United States, 9.7% of men and 8.4% of women experienced any RC by an intimate partner during their lifetime. Men reported more commonly than women that a partner tried to get pregnant when the man did not want her to; women reported higher prevalence of partner condom refusal. Examination by race/ethnicity revealed that non-Hispanic (NH) Black women and men had significantly higher lifetime prevalence of both RC types than all other groups; in the last 12 months, NH Blacks had significantly higher prevalence across the board than NH Whites. Hispanics had significantly higher lifetime and 12-month prevalence of any RC and partner condom refusal than NH Whites. RC is at the intersection of two public health concerns—IPV and reproductive health. Documenting its prevalence and differences by sex and race/ethnicity may inform prevention efforts to reduce occurrence and negative health outcomes among specific populations.

Guns, Alcohol, and Intimate Partner Violence: The Epidemiology of Female Suicide in New Mexico

Crisis ◽  
1999 ◽  
Vol 20 (3) ◽  
pp. 121-126 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lenora Olson ◽  
Frank Huyler ◽  
Arthur W Lynch ◽  
Lynne Fullerton ◽  
Deborah Werenko ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Intimate Partner Violence ◽  
New Mexico ◽  
American Indians ◽  
Partner Violence ◽  
The United States ◽  
Intimate Partner ◽  
Injury Death ◽  
Female Suicide ◽  
Blood Alcohol Levels ◽  
Associated Risk Factors

Suicide is among the leading causes of death in the United States, and in women the second leading cause of injury death overall. Previous studies have suggested links between intimate partner violence and suicide in women. We examined female suicide deaths to identify and describe associated risk factors. We reviewed all reports from the New Mexico Office of the Medical Investigator for female suicide deaths occurring in New Mexico from 1990 to 1994. Information abstracted included demographics, mechanism of death, presence of alcohol/drugs, clinical depression, intimate partner violence, health problems, and other variables. Annual rates were calculated based on the 1990 census. The New Mexico female suicide death rate was 8.2/100,000 persons per year (n = 313), nearly twice the U. S. rate of 4.5/100,000. Non-Hispanic whites were overrepresented compared to Hispanics and American Indians. Decedents ranged in age from 14 to 93 years (median = 43 years). Firearms accounted for 45.7% of the suicide deaths, followed by ingested poisons (29.1%), hanging (10.5%), other (7.7%), and inhaled poisons (7.0%). Intimate partner violence was documented in 5.1% of female suicide deaths; in an additional 22.1% of cases, a male intimate partner fought with or separated from the decedent immediately preceding the suicide. Nearly two-thirds (65.5%) of the decedents had alcohol or drugs present in their blood at autopsy. Among decedents who had alcohol present (34.5%), blood alcohol levels were far higher among American Indians compared to Hispanics and non-Hispanic Whites (p = .01). Interpersonal conflict was documented in over 25% of cases, indicating that studies of the mortality of intimate partner violence should include victims of both suicide and homicide deaths to fully characterize the mortality patterns of intimate partner violence.

Abusive Men's Use of Children to Control Their Partners and Ex-Partners

2007 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 54-61 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marisa L. Beeble ◽  
Deborah Bybee ◽  
Cris M. Sullivan
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Intimate Partner Violence ◽  
Partner Violence ◽  
Emotional Abuse ◽  
The United States ◽  
Intimate Partner ◽  
Anecdotal Evidence ◽  
Multiple Variables ◽  
The Relationship

While research has found that millions of children in the United States are exposed to their mothers being battered, and that many are themselves abused as well, little is known about the ways in which children are used by abusers to manipulate or harm their mothers. Anecdotal evidence suggests that perpetrators use children in a variety of ways to control and harm women; however, no studies to date have empirically examined the extent of this occurring. Therefore, the current study examined the extent to which survivors of abuse experienced this, as well as the conditions under which it occurred. Interviews were conducted with 156 women who had experienced recent intimate partner violence. Each of these women had at least one child between the ages of 5 and 12. Most women (88%) reported that their assailants had used their children against them in varying ways. Multiple variables were found to be related to this occurring, including the relationship between the assailant and the children, the extent of physical and emotional abuse used by the abuser against the woman, and the assailant's court-ordered visitation status. Findings point toward the complex situational conditions by which assailants use the children of their partners or ex-partners to continue the abuse, and the need for a great deal more research in this area.

Global Norms and Local Action

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peace A. Medie
Keyword(s):  
Intimate Partner Violence ◽  
Criminal Justice ◽  
United Nations ◽  
Partner Violence ◽  
Intimate Partner ◽  
Local Action ◽  
Women’S Rights ◽  
Post Conflict ◽  
Global Norms ◽  
The United Nations

When and why do states implement international women’s rights norms? Global Norms and Local Action is an examination of states’ responses to violence against women (VAW) in Africa and their implementation of the international women’s justice norm. Despite the presence of laws on various forms of VAW in most African countries, most victims face barriers to accessing justice through the criminal justice system. This problem is particularly acute in post-conflict countries. International organizations such as the United Nations and women’s rights advocates have, therefore, promoted the international women’s justice norm, which emphasizes the establishment of specialized mechanisms within the criminal justice sector to address VAW. With a focus on the response of the police to rape and intimate partner violence in post-conflict Côte d’Ivoire and Liberia, this book theorizes the United Nations’ and women’s movements’ influence on the implementation of the international women’s justice norm. It draws on over 300 interviews in both countries to demonstrate that high international and domestic pressures, combined with favorable political and institutional conditions, are key to the rapid establishment of specialized mechanisms within the police force and to how police officers respond to rape and intimate partner violence cases. It argues that despite significant weaknesses, specialized mechanisms have improved women’s access to justice. The book concludes with a discussion of why a holistic approach to addressing VAW is needed.

Racial Disparities in Pregnancy-associated Intimate Partner Homicide

2021 ◽  
pp. 088626052199083
Author(s):  
Aaron J. Kivisto ◽  
Samantha Mills ◽  
Lisa S. Elwood
Keyword(s):  
Black Women ◽  
Ethnic Minority ◽  
Racial Disparities ◽  
White Women ◽  
The United States ◽  
Intimate Partner ◽  
Intimate Partner Homicide ◽  
Homicide Victimization ◽  
Increased Risk ◽  
Racial Ethnic

Pregnancy-associated femicide accounts for a mortality burden at least as high as any of the leading specific obstetric causes of maternal mortality, and intimate partners are the most common perpetrators of these homicides. This study examined pregnancy-associated and non-pregnancy-associated intimate partner homicide (IPH) victimization among racial/ethnic minority women relative to their non-minority counterparts using several sources of state-level data from 2003 through 2017. Data regarding partner homicide victimization came from the National Violent Death Reporting System, natality data were obtained from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Center for Health Statistics, and relevant sociodemographic information was obtained from the U.S. Census Bureau. Findings indicated that pregnancy and racial/ethnic minority status were each associated with increased risk for partner homicide victimization. Although rates of non-pregnancy-associated IPH victimization were similar between Black and White women, significant differences emerged when limited to pregnancy-associated IPH such that Black women evidenced pregnancy-associated IPH rates more than threefold higher than that observed among White and Hispanic women. Relatedly, the largest intraracial discrepancies between pregnant and non-pregnant women emerged among Black women, who experienced pregnancy-associated IPH victimization at a rate 8.1 times greater than their non-pregnant peers. These findings indicate that the racial disparities in IPH victimization in the United States observed in prior research might be driven primarily by the pronounced differences among the pregnant subset of these populations.

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