Why Caring About Domestic Violence Means Being an Abolitionist
By Angel Parker
In the late 20th century, many feminist organizers, survivors, social service providers, and scholars pushed to criminalize domestic violence. Their aim was to force the predominantly white cis male legal system to take violence against women seriously, and with the same gravity as the assault of a stranger on the street or a police officer. As a result of decades of activism, we saw things like
Domestic violence bureaus in District Attorneys’ offices
Domestic violence units in local police departments
Court mandated Batterers Intervention Programs
Mandatory arrests
Leniency in obtaining orders of protection, & more
While many advocates and survivors applauded the new waves of legislation, few anticipated what would be the outcome.
The truth is this country hates Black people, it hates women, and it hates LGBTQ+ people. The criminalization of domestic violence, the War on Crime, and Joe Biden’s beloved 1994 Crime Bill (despite VAWA) has allowed the criminal legal system to arrest and incarcerate survivors of domestic violence with no public outrage or repercussions.
This makes what I do so important. I work at the Rose M. Singer Center, the women’s jail on Rikers Island, as a therapist and legal advocate to domestic violence survivors. Everyone I work with is incarcerated as a direct result of their experience with domestic violence. My program is the only program at RMSC that has a special focus on LGBTQ+ survivors. Survivors end up in jail due to a variety of causes and charges. We now have data to support that a disturbing majority of incarcerated women and queer folks are abuse survivors, and many abusers use the criminal legal system as a way to further their abuse.
People face charges like burglary or grand larceny when their abuser forces the survivor to steal things to sell. Survivors can face prostitution charges as a result of being trafficked by their abuser. A survivor that resorts to picking up a weapon to defend themselves in a beating can be charged with assault with intent or even attempted murder. Think about a survivor who tries to hide their abuser’s gun so that it can’t be used against them receiving a felony gun charge. Sometimes substances are the only way survivors know how to cope with the daily abuse they endure - some are even forced to do drugs with their abuser if they are a user themselves - and end up with felony drug charges. Imagine a survivor getting arrested on a parole violation for not being at their listed address by curfew because they tried to run away from their abuser. A survivor who was simply with their abuser when that person committed a crime is likely to be arrested and charged as an accomplice or co-defendant just for being present. These are only a few examples of the millions of survivors who have been criminalized nationwide over the last several decades.
Physical abuse is just one component of what can be experienced in an abusive relationship - many also have to endure emotional, financial, and sexual abuse as well. Once survivors are detained at Rikers or any other NYC jail, they are re-traumatized and subjected to strikingly similar circumstances to their abusive relationships. Many survivors are heavily surveilled by their abusers. They’re not allowed to leave the house without either getting permission or being accompanied by their abuser. Survivors lose all aspects of privacy. Their abusers look through their phones, laptops, and belongings at any given moment. They are subjected to being belittled, humiliated, and dehumanized on a regular basis. They are called names, yelled at, intimidated, threatened, and the like. For survivors that have jobs, many are forced to quit them so that they must solely rely on their abuser for financial support. Or they’re forced to give their money to their abuser so the abuser can maintain control of all financial matters in the relationship. Most essential to abusive relationships is isolation. Without a support system, it becomes easier to abuse someone because no one is there to help or demand accountability.
At Rikers, people are constantly surveilled. They are not allowed to walk anywhere in the facility without permission and an officer escort. They are subjected to random raids where officers come into housing units unannounced, and literally throw people’s things around, without regard, in search of potential contraband. People who are incarcerated at Rikers often share stories of name calling, yelling, and belittlement at the hands of corrections officers and staff. For those who are allowed to work, they make far less money than they would for doing the exact same work on the outside. Plus, if someone gets a ticket/infraction, an automatic fee is deducted from their accounts. And of course, isolation is the crux of incarceration - whether in an upstate New York prison where it’s almost impossible to get to unless you have the time and means or on the Island that’s only accessible by two visitor buses and the Q100.
This is not to say that there aren’t survivors who want their abusers incarcerated. Many abusers are so determined to maintain power and control over the survivor that the only way they will stop is if they are given no choice. Despite this, there are still thousands of survivors - especially Black survivors - who never come forward about their experiences because they know the effects of mass incarceration on their communities and don’t want to contribute to that. And the uncomfortable truth is: Jails don’t work. Data shows that incarceration does not stop or lessen violence for survivors of domestic violence. Instead, the criminal legal system and fear of incarceration has become another tactic abusers use to terrorize their intimate partners. Countless survivors have had the police called on them by their abuser. Countless survivors have been locked away in jail over false claims from their abuser. The more marginalized the survivors (ex: undocumented, sex worker, transgender, disabled, etc.), the easier it is for an abuser to manipulate the system in their own favor. The reality is that only a small number of abusers are incarcerated as a direct result of their actions. And unfortunately, domestic violence survivors are far more likely to be incarcerated as a result of being abused than their abuser is for abusing them. So if you are someone that genuinely cares about domestic violence but you don’t identify as a prison abolitionist, you must ask yourself: if jails don’t reduce violence for survivors of domestic violence and instead jails are caging survivors away from their loved ones while their abusers enjoy their freedom, what purpose do they actually serve?
