Ayanna Shepard

Prof. McDonald
Written Communication 102-14
Opinion Piece

Incarcerated For What?!

By Ayanna Shepard
Every day, three women die because of domestic violence. More specifically,
I am talking about dying at the hands of a significant other. This violence includes
but, is not limited to robberies, homicide, assault and rape. Because intimate
partner violence typically occurs in private, it is difficult to measure the amount of
violence that actually goes on. This is also because victims are very reluctant to
report it for obvious reasons. If you think that these statistics are shocking, you will
be even more surprised when you see that black women are even THREE times
more likely to die at the hands of a partner whether it is a current one or an ex. This
is a significant increase from the probability of this happening to women of other
racial backgrounds. Sadly in these cases of African American women dying at the
hand of their partner, over half of the reported cases show that the women were in
the process of leaving the relationship. (Freemarissanow.org)
Because of how risky it is for an
African American woman to be in
an abusive relationship, I am
angered by the fact that black
women are two times more likely
than white women to go to jail for
Pictured above is Marissa Alexander
defending themselves. For
facing 60 years for self-defense against
example, Marissa Alexander was a
an abusive husband.
woman who was initially facing 60
years of prison for firing a warning shot in the air to defend herself against her
abusive husband. The judge eventually dropped her sentence down to three years
in prison and two years of house arrest. According to escholarship.org, in 1991, the
ratio of black women to white women convicted of killing their husbands to end an
abusive relationship was two to one. When women are in an abusive relationship,
they are very likely to be incarcerated because the tactics that they use to defend
themselves are highly criminalized. This is very upsetting because a lot of women in
these situations are either trying to defend themselves, the lives of their children or
the lives of another family member.
As stated by the ACLU, about 62% of incarcerated women have a history of
being physically and sexually abused before going to prison. In some prisons, this
number can go up to 94%. It is heartbreaking to know the each year about 324,000
pregnant women are physically and sexually assaulted in domestic relationships.
(Aclu.org) Being pregnant in an abusive relationship can lead to drastic weight loss

and extensive bleeding during the first and second trimester.

Maternal mortality is often a result of this tragic phenomenon. Even
though there are women who are able to make it past the pregnant
stage in abusive relationships, its shocking to find out that about
70% of women in prisons are mothers. This puts a devastating impact
on the family because now, there are kids that are either growing up
without a mother or are being BORN AND RAISED inside of prisons!
The fact that a woman can be incarcerated because she was
trying to defend herself, her children and her family is horrible. The
fact that a woman can be incarcerated for trying to avoid the
situation of her kids growing up without a mom is infuriating. The fact that a woman
can be incarcerated to avoid having to be shackled while giving birth is disgusting. I
want our judicial system to revisit and change their current policies on incarceration
incases of domestic violence because frankly, they are bringing more hurt than
justice.

Works Cited
"Fact Sheet on Domestic Violence & Criminalization." FREE
Web. 22 Apr. 2016.

MARISSA NOW.

"Prison Rape Elimination Act of 2003 (PREA)." American Civil Liberties Union.
Web. 22 Apr. 2016.
Gebreyes, Rahel. "Prisons Are Illegally Shackling Pregnant Women While In
Labor." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, n.d. Web. 22 Apr. 2016.

Prupis, Nadia. "Race, Domestic Abuse and a Warning Shot: Marissa Alexander
Released From Prison, But Still Not Free." Common Dreams. Common
Dreams, n.d. Web. 22 Apr. 2016.