Convicted Survivors

Convicted Survivors
Author: Elizabeth Dermody Leonard
Publisher: State University of New York Press
Total Pages: 219
Release: 2012-02-01
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 0791488888

When a woman survives a deadly assault by her male abuser by using lethal self-defense, she often faces a punitive criminal justice system—one that largely failed to respond to her earlier calls for help. In this book, Elizabeth Dermody Leonard examines the lives and experiences of more than forty women in California who are serving lengthy prison sentences for killing their male abusers. She contrasts them with other women prisoners in the state and finds substantial differences. Leonard's in-depth interviews reveal that the women are slow to identify themselves as battered women and continue to minimize the violence done to them, make numerous and varied attempts to end abusive relationships, and are systematically failed by the systems they look to for help. While in jail, these women receive liberal dosages of psychotropic drugs, damaging their ability to aid in their self-defense. Moreover, trials and plea bargains feature little or no evidence of the severe intimate abuse inflicted upon them. Despite a clear lack of criminal or violent histories, the majority of women found guilty of the death of abusive men receive first- or second-degree murder convictions and serve long, harsh sentences. Leonard concludes the book with a discussion of policy implications and recommendations arising from this research.

Documenting Gendered Violence

Documenting Gendered Violence
Author: Lisa M. Cuklanz
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
Total Pages: 289
Release: 2016-08-25
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 150131999X

Documenting Gendered Violence explores the intersections of documentary and gendered violence. Several contributors investigate representations through grounded textual analyses of key films and videos, including Sex Crimes Unit (2011) and The Invisible War (2012),and other documentary texts including Youtube, photographs, and theater. Other chapters use analysis and interviews to explore how gender violence issues impact production and how these documentaries become part of collaborations and awareness movements.

Survivor's Guilt

Survivor's Guilt
Author: Robyn Gigl
Publisher: CMC Verve
Total Pages: 288
Release: 2023-04-06
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 0857308467

** One of TIME Magazine's Best Mystery and Thriller Books of All Time ** LGBTQIA+ activist Robyn Gigl tackles the complexities of gender, power, and human trafficking with a ripped-from-the-headlines plot in her second legal thriller featuring Erin McCabe, a protagonist who, like the author, is a transgender attorney. The death of millionaire businessman Charles Parsons seems like a straightforward suicide. There's no sign of forced entry or struggle in his lavish New Jersey mansion - just a single gunshot wound from his own weapon. But days later, a different story emerges. Computer techs pick up a voice recording that incriminates Parsons' adoptive daughter, Ann, who duly confesses and pleads guilty. After the case is brought to her attention by an unlikely source, Erin McCabe and her law partner, Duane Swisher, soon realise that pieces of Ann's story don't fit together. Ann clearly knows more than she\'s willing to share, even if it means a life sentence. Who is she protecting, and why? As their investigation deepens, Erin and Swish find themselves caught in a web of human exploitation, unchecked greed, and murder - before learning the horrifying truth... 'I was mightily impressed with Robyn Gigl's debut, By Way of Sorrow... but Survivor's Guilt is even better. A ground-breaking series now stands to become a definitive one' - New York Times (Best Crime Novels of the Year) 'This intelligent page-turner with a social conscience illuminates the complexities of guilt and justice' - The Bookseller (Editor's Choice) 'Another great merger of legal mystery and psychological thriller' - CrimeReads 'Survivor's Guilt is a richly textured legal thriller that brims with authentic detail. Clever, bold and original... A riveting series that's set to become a classic' - Kia Abdullah

Demystifying the Big House

Demystifying the Big House
Author: Katherine A Foss
Publisher: SIU Press
Total Pages: 367
Release: 2018-07-06
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 0809336588

Essays in this volume illustrate how shows such as Orange Is the New Black and Oz impact the public’s perception of crime rates, the criminal justice system, and imprisonment. Contributors look at prison wives on reality television series, portrayals of death row, breastfeeding while in prison, transgender prisoners, and black masculinity. They also examine the ways in which media messages ignore an individual’s struggle against an all too frequently biased system and instead dehumanize the incarcerated as violent and overwhelmingly masculine. Together these essays argue media reform is necessary for penal reform, proposing that more accurate media representations of prison life could improve public support for programs dealing with poverty, abuse, and drug addiction—factors that increase the likelihood of criminal activity and incarceration. Scholars from cultural and critical studies, feminist studies, queer studies, African American studies, media studies, sociology, and psychology offer critical analysis of media depictions of prison, bridging the media’s portrayals of incarcerated lives with actual experiences and bringing to light forgotten voices in prison narratives.

Encyclopedia of Domestic Violence

Encyclopedia of Domestic Violence
Author: Nicky Ali Jackson
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Total Pages: 802
Release: 2007
Genre: Family & Relationships
ISBN: 0415969689

Aims to provide information on a variety of traditional and breakthrough issues in the complex phenomenon of domestic violence.

The Battle and Backlash Rage On

The Battle and Backlash Rage On
Author: Stacey Elin Rossi
Publisher: Xlibris Corporation
Total Pages: 350
Release: 2004-07-07
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1462836712

In The Battle and Backlash Rage On: Why feminism cannot be obsolete edited by Stacey Elin Rossi, hot topics include: misogyny, antifeminism and/or bigotry in "men's rights" groups and "feminist" groups (such as ifeminists); critiques of the mainstream view that feminism is an outdated idea and no longer needed; contemporary obstacles to overcoming backlash, such as corrupt manipulation of data in antifeminist rhetoric; and the like. Issues covered include: Rhetorical denial that men hold the responsibility to end rape Me-too-ism by some men in regard to women's only programs, such as healthcare Distortion of the image of the father by mens rights groups Implicit and explicit misogyny and antifeminism among ifeminists and mens rightists Sexism and the patriarchal birthright in divorce and its harm to children manifest in the custodial decisions taking away children from their mothers and leaving them in the hands of the abuser Prevalence of domestic violence and its impact on the nations children Backlash against an ill-informed view of affirmative action and political correctness that allegedly gives privilege, particularly to women The compendium presents a combination of scholarly and nonscholarly works, a blend that appeals to both academics and nonacademics alike. Its ultimate purpose is to demonstrate that feminism works for the benefit of all humankind and *not*, as claimed, to the detriment of men. These articles and essays will hopefully demystify the issues, give a desperately needed more powerful force in favor of feminism, and serve to controvert rampant antifeminism, which can be, in effect, cleverly masqueraded misogyny. This material is all rather cutting-edge. No volume to date has encompassed these very current developments in the sexual political landscape. All over the westernized world, the cultural melee surrounding the issue of sex/gender sounds like a cacophony of agitated voices screaming in rage. From angryharry blaming global warming on feminists, as well as rape on women, the very victims themselves,1 to MS Magazine bulletin board participants claiming that men hate women2, the ideological battle seems to be at a greater intensity than ever before. However, this battle remains relatively confined to the fringes of society and to academe; feminism per se is no longer part of our cultural mainstream. While women all over the world, particularly in developing countries, are increasingly associating themselves with the label feminist, women in the United States seem to be abandoning the term in droves. From boardrooms to bedrooms, not the four letter version but the eight letter F-word appears verboten. As criticized by some European feminists, American women, particularly those otherwise-would-be feminists, dont like to offend their men. Standing by their men, they have begun to increasingly eschew feminism and even have begun to join the ranks of the enemy the mens rightists. A search on the internet for articles and essays may produce thousands of hits on the obsoleteness of feminism; however, polls and general trends indicate that the vast majority of women, as well as men, believe in gender equity. One might hear a young woman say, contradictorily, Sure, I believe women should be equal to men, but Im not a feminist. According to Geni Hawkins, Somehow, the term nazi has gotten tacked onto the end of the word [feminist], and the prevailing opinion seems to have become that the word connotes a shrill, man-hating, bra-burning (I'm surprised they're not still going off about us bobbing our hair), unfulfilled female.3 One major unresolved and possibly unresolvable problem is, unsurprisingly, just how to proceed in such a splintered and alienating movement, and one that has been given such a bad reputation. Like so many other cultural stereotypes, such as the shad

Picking Cotton

Picking Cotton
Author: Jennifer Thompson-Cannino
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Total Pages: 304
Release: 2010-01-05
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 9781429962155

The New York Times best selling true story of an unlikely friendship forged between a woman and the man she incorrectly identified as her rapist and sent to prison for 11 years. Jennifer Thompson was raped at knifepoint by a man who broke into her apartment while she slept. She was able to escape, and eventually positively identified Ronald Cotton as her attacker. Ronald insisted that she was mistaken-- but Jennifer's positive identification was the compelling evidence that put him behind bars. After eleven years, Ronald was allowed to take a DNA test that proved his innocence. He was released, after serving more than a decade in prison for a crime he never committed. Two years later, Jennifer and Ronald met face to face-- and forged an unlikely friendship that changed both of their lives. With Picking Cotton, Jennifer and Ronald tell in their own words the harrowing details of their tragedy, and challenge our ideas of memory and judgment while demonstrating the profound nature of human grace and the healing power of forgiveness.

The Public Sociology Debate

The Public Sociology Debate
Author: Christopher J. Schneider
Publisher: UBC Press
Total Pages: 308
Release: 2014-05-10
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 0774826657

In 2004, Michael Burawoy challenged sociologists to move beyond the ivory tower and into the realm of activism, to engage in public discourses about what society could or should be. His call to arms sparked debate among sociologists. Which side would sociologists take? Would "public sociology" speak for all sociologists? In this volume, leading Canadian experts continue the debate by discussing their discipline's mission and practice and the role that ethics plays in research, theory, and teaching. In doing so, they offer insights as to where their discipline is heading and why it matters to people inside and outside the university.

Can't Catch a Break

Can't Catch a Break
Author: Susan Starr Sered
Publisher: University of California Press
Total Pages: 230
Release: 2014-09-12
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 0520282795

Based on five years of fieldwork in Boston, Can’t Catch a Break documents the day-to-day lives of forty women as they struggle to survive sexual abuse, violent communities, ineffective social and therapeutic programs, discriminatory local and federal policies, criminalization, incarceration, and a broad cultural consensus that views suffering as a consequence of personal flaws and bad choices. Combining hard-hitting policy analysis with an intimate account of how marginalized women navigate an unforgiving world, Susan Sered and Maureen Norton-Hawk shine new light on the deep and complex connections between suffering and social inequality.