This week we are staying on theme with our recent discussions about trafficking and sex work. We will be dicussing the cases of abuse survivors being criminalized after defending themselves against their abusers and attackers. We learn about Battered Woman Syndrome and coercive control, and how the courts would rather make these women seem mentally unstable as a defense than acknowledge the actual history of abuse performed against them. We also discuss the issues with certain state's laws that force women to pay restitution to the abuser's families.

Sources

https://www.starsdorset.org/blog/locked-up-for-killing-your-abuser

https://www.prisonlegalnews.org/news/2021/jul/1/woman-abuse-survivors-sent-prison-self-defense/

https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-features/cyntoia-brown-beyond-other-cases-775874/

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2020/01/20/how-far-can-abused-women-go-to-protect-themselves

https://www.ojp.gov/ncjrs/virtual-library/abstracts/deadly-force-self-defense-against-rape

https://www.cnn.com/2022/09/14/us/iowa-teen-restitution-family-of-alleged-rapist/index.html

https://www.legis.iowa.gov/docs/code/910.3B.pdf

https://www.domesticshelters.org/articles/identifying-abuse/a-guide-to-coercive-control

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1077801218816191