When Women’s Survival is Criminalized

Many women who encounter domestic abuse and are caught up in our criminal legal system are punished — both for when they fight back and when they don't.

"Criminalized survival" refers to this highly gendered and racialized phenomenon, and we see it in stories of self-defense, like Tracy McCarter and Pieper Lewis. Criminalized survival is also, in many states, essentially codified into law with "failure to protect" laws that punish parents who allegedly did not protect their children from abuse they were aware was occuring. An unprecedented Mother Jones investigation found that in Oklahoma, where this practice is especially prevalent, 90% of people incarcerated for the crime are women.

We speak with one of them, who was sentenced to serve 30 years in prison while her abuser got a lesser sentence. For more on her story, see the Mother Jones investigation: "She Never Hurt Her Kids. So Why Is a Mother Serving More Time Than the Man Who Abused Her Daughter?" 

We’re also joined by Dr. Alisa Bierria, Assistant Professor in the Department of Gender Studies at the University of California, Los Angeles and a co-founder of Survived & Punished, to unpack the larger cultural mindset of misogyny and misogynoir that makes women responsible for other people’s actions, but also punishes them if they are not deemed "good victims."

Correction: The recording states that in Oklahoma 90% of people charged with the crime are women. In fact, 90% of the people incarcerated for the crime are women.

Many women who encounter domestic abuse and are caught up in our criminal legal system are punished both for fighting back and when they don't.

“Criminalized survival” refers to this highly gendered and racialized phenomenon, and we see it in stories of self-defense, like Tracy McCarter and Pieper Lewis. Criminalized survival is also, in many states, essentially codified into law with “failure to protect” laws that punish parents who allegedly did not protect their children from abuse they were aware was occuring. In Oklahoma, where this practice is especially prevalent, 90 percent of people charged with the crime are women.

We speak with one of them, who was sentenced to serve 30 years in prison while her abuser got a lesser sentence. 

We’re also joined by Dr. Alisa Bierria, Assistant Professor in the Department of Gender Studies at the University of California, Los Angeles and a co-founder of Survived & Punished, to unpack the larger cultural mindset of misogyny and misogynoir that makes women responsible for other people’s actions, but also punishes them if they are not deemed “good victims.”