jessica taylor on LinkedIn: Addressing Gender-Based Violence — Abolitionist Futures (2024)

Across the country, a shockingly high number of people are serving time after surviving domestic violence. Studies have found that upward of 90% of incarcerated women in some state prisons experienced physical or sexual assaults before landing behind bars. In many cases, the abuse didn’t just precede the arrest—it contributed to it. Many survivors feel let down by the legal system and can even face prosecution themselves. According to The Network: Advocating Against Domestic Violence, this happens when they act in self-defense, under coercion, or are held accountable for the actions of their abuser. Some resort to criminal behavior as a result of trauma, such as drug use, leading to imprisonment. Unfortunately, research on these criminalized survivors is limited, making them almost invisible despite their vulnerability.Learn more when you visit: https://the-network.org/

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Only the Country Liberal Party has a plan to support our police and reduce crime:✅ Our number one policy is to put the rights of people to be safe above the rights of offenders and provide better victim support.✅ Implement the recommendations of the Police Review.✅ Work with Aboriginal Leaders to establish Law & Justice Management Committees in communities.✅ Establish Alcohol Management Plans in communities.✅ Give police more power to deal with youth offenders and public drinking.✅ Make breach of bail conditions an offence✅ Serious violent offenders will start with a position of ‘no bail’.✅ Tackle alcohol and drug abuse through compulsory rehabilitation programs both inside and outside correctional facilities.✅ Get kids to school - truancy officers to clamp down on non-attendance.✅ Minimum mandatory sentencing for assaults on workers.✅ Make ram-raids an offence.✅ More programs for offending youth and those at risk of offending.✅ Tackle Domestic Violence with behavioural change programs both inside and outside of prison.This August, Territorians have an important choice to make about the future direction of the Territory.

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When it comes to crime prevention, Equalitarians look to adopt a three-tiered (Strategic, [Federal] Operational, [State] and Tactical, [Local]) simultaneously applied crime reduction strategy.This strategy would include incarceration reforms focused on rehabilitation instead of punishment, holding parents liable for their children's criminal actions, focused preventative education, and the denial / retraction of government benefits for perpetual / intractable offenders.The United States Equalitarian party is also opposed to privately run prisons. Learn more at: www.usep.net

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October is National Domestic Violence Awareness Month.Data on the extent of violence against women and girls in the UK shows that 9% of women aged 16 and over were victims of domestic abuse in the last year (2022). Between December 2020 and March 2021 the government ran a call for evidence to help inform the development of its tackling violence against women and girls strategy for 2021 to 2024.The ‘Tackling violence against women and girls strategy’ was published in July 2021. It set out three ambitions:•to increase support for victims and survivors, ensuring they have access to quality support•to increase the number of perpetrators brought to justice, including an increase in the number of crimes reported to the police and increased victim engagement with the police and wider public service response•to reduce the prevalence of violence against women and girlsThe key areas for action included prioritising prevention, supporting victims and survivors, pursuing perpetrators and ensuring there was a ‘whole system’ approach, with police, the education sector, local authorities, prisons and probation services and other organisations working together effectively.#DomesticViolenceAwarenessMonth

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Trigger ⚠️128% increase in self-harm amongst women in HMP Eastwood Park, says report from Independent Monitoring Boards.Women in Prison has commented on a new report on HMP Eastwood Park from the Independent Monitoring Board for prisons for the period November 2022 to October 2023.The report found that:- The number of self-harm incidents rose by 128% across the reporting year, including 502 incidents in January 2023.- 85% of self-harm incidents involved 19 women.- Mentally unwell women are waiting too long for transfers to secure mental health hospitals, with 40% of women waiting longer than the 28-day target.- Women were spending long periods of time locked in their cells. - The Independent Monitoring Board recommends that mentally unwell women and those with complex needs should be looked after in the health system, not the criminal justice system.Read our full statement: https://bit.ly/48ZMRNL#WomenInPrison #MentalHealthAwareness #CriminalJusticeSystem #UKPrisons #CriminalJustice

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NSW is at a crossroads. It's time for a smarter approach to criminal justice, based on the evidence of what actually works to prevent crime and improve community safety - investing in people, not prisons. Today we release a new report examining the success of programs and services already working to change lives and keep people out of prison. Read more: https://loom.ly/cBEwPE4

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Useful resource published today from Prison Reform Trust showing breakdowns of the use of imprisonment of women in each police force area across England and Wales in 2022.The tables show the proportion of which received sentences of less than 6 months: https://lnkd.in/eExPGgn2#prisonreformtrust #womeninprison #prison #criminaljusticesystem #shortsentences

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A U.N.-appointed panel issued a report last week documenting 'shocking' violations of basic human rights and pointing to 'staggering' racial disparities that place the U.S. criminal justice system in a singular category on the world stage.Practices that are routine in U.S. prisons, likeshackling womenduring childbirth and unpaidforced labor, are an 'affront to human dignity,' and represent the 'worst version of a racist criminal legal system' that perpetuates slavery to the present day, according to the U.N.report, which was published on Sept. 28.The group of three experts condemned other rights violations, expressing alarm that solitary confinement, false arrests and disenfranchisem*nt due to arrest have now become 'generalized practice' in the U.S. They called for major reforms and made numerous specific policy recommendations, including withdrawing armed officers from routine traffic enforcement and from schools.Read more in Hassan Kanu's latest column:

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Elections for Police & Crime Commissioners and regional mayors are taking place on Thursday 2nd May. We’re asking all candidates to commit to improving support and protection for women affected by domestic abuse and the criminal justice system by signing up to our key pledges. Pledge #1 📣 Increase support for women in contact with the criminal justice systemNearly 7 in 10 women supported by Advance’s criminal justice services have experienced domestic abuse, and this is often directly or indirectly linked to their offending. Most of them are facing multiple challenges at once, such as with their housing, physical and mental wellbeing, and caring responsibilities. These struggles are exacerbated by time spent in custody, with devastating consequences: in 2023, self-harm among women in prison increased by 43%. We are calling for: ✅ More recognition of the specific needs of women in contact with the criminal justice system and local action plans to reduce the number of women in prison ✅ Increased funding for community-based support that ensures women can rebuild their lives safely, delivered as part of a multi-agency response involving social care, healthcare and other statutory and voluntary services ✅ Investment in early intervention and diversion services for women in contact with the criminal justice system Read our full list of pledges ➡️ https://ow.ly/m0Eq50Rm0zE

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FIRST ARRESTS documents the human stories of where it all begins; the first contact with policing and the justice system. These early encounters define relationships with, and understanding of, policing and the criminal justice system. Between 2013 and 2018 more than a quarter of a million children between 10-12 were arrested, 30,000+ were younger than 10. The number of children that are intimidated, stopped and cuffed without formal arrest, dwarfs these numbers. After age 12 these numbers only increase drastically. These experiences shape the minds of our youth, setting the foreground for a relationship with justice in some form that causes undue harm. It’s our goal to humanize these stories and tell them broadly. We invite you to tell your own story as part of the larger mission of sharing the story of how youth come to know policing and confinement in America.