Brittany Smith goes on trial in Alabama on Tuesday, facing life in prison, for killing the man who raped her. How far can abuses women go to protect themselves?
newyorker.com/magazine/2020/… h/t @justdina_
newyorker.com/magazine/2020/… h/t @justdina_
In Nov. 2019, I asked “How many rapists must we kill before men to stop raping us?” on an episode of an #Australian TV show. That episode has been banned because imagined violence against men is consideee worse than actual violence against women.
“Fighting back against rapists and abusers is a valid legal defense. But women with persuasive self-defense claims continue to be charged with murder.”
That is especially worse for Black women in the US and other women of colour.
That is especially worse for Black women in the US and other women of colour.
In researching the chapter on Violence in my book, where I initially asked “How many rapists must we kill before men stop raping is,” I learned that women are the fastest growing segment of the incarcerated population in the United States. 
- As many as 90% of the women who are incarcerated in the US for killing a man were battered by that same person
- 79% of those in prison have suffered physical abuse before their arrest
- 2/3 of women in jail are of colour
- the majority of that population is also low-income.
- 79% of those in prison have suffered physical abuse before their arrest
- 2/3 of women in jail are of colour
- the majority of that population is also low-income.
The injustices of the criminal justice system are compounded for women compared to men and for Black women compared to white women:
- In a 1991 article,Sharon Angella Allard explains that the ratio of Black women to white women convicted of killing abusive husbands was nearly 2:1
- In a 1991 article,Sharon Angella Allard explains that the ratio of Black women to white women convicted of killing abusive husbands was nearly 2:1
