63: Why do We Punish Domestic Violence Survivors? w/Alexandra Bailey

When does a victim become a suspect? Very often, our legal system cares about someone's status as a victim when it allows the system to incarcerate someone. As soon as you stand in that goal, any harm done to you matters not.

On today's episode, Hunter spoke with Alexandra Bailey, Campaign Strategist to End Life Imprisonment at the Sentencing Project, to discuss the ways our legal system punishes Domestic Violence Survivors. Specifically, they dive deep into the "Failure to Protect laws" that showcase the latent sexism prevalent in our legal system and the twisted ways in which prosecutors ignore self defense claims when it aids their goal of securing higher conviction rates.

While some states offer hope at a future where these cases are not happening around the country, places like Oklahoma remind us there is a long uphill battle that people like Alexandra are at the forefront of to end our brutally harsh punishment bureaucracy.

Key Topics and Takeaways:

• How Alexandra got into her line of work. [5:54]
• An overview of some laws that the Sentencing Project is trying to reform. [7:53]
• Ways women are uniquely affected by the legal system. [12:20]
• The DVSJA law. [23:14]
• Why having a clear and trauma-informed legal standard is important. [29:46]
• Failure to protect laws. [37:24]
• Why the policy needs to be changed in Oklahoma. [53:07]
• What the Sentencing Project is all about. [57:23]

Guest:

Alexandra Bailey, Campaign Strategist to End Life Imprisonment, Sentencing Project

Resources:

Sentencing Project DVSJA Bill News

Oklahoma Failure to Protect

Women’s Prisons Are Filled With Domestic Violence Survivors. A New Type of Law Could Help Them Get Out.

She never hurt her kids. So why is she in prison?

Memorable Quotes:

“It doesn't really matter the circumstances. Women are seen by the legal system as being less credible.” (12:25, Alexandra)

“As of 2020, 47 out of every 100,000 women were in prison, so this is not a failure of any one particular individual. This is the failure of a system that has not provided what families need in order to succeed.” (17:50, Alexandra)

“God bless the public defenders of America because they are so frequently trying to explain trauma to deaf ears. So shout out to all of them.” (29:30, Alexandra)

“There's no shame in improving things. There is no shame in going back and learning and growing. We do it as individuals. There's no reason that this system can't do it too.” (36:32, Alexandra)

“This system takes tools with good intention and wields them in the worst possible way.” (39:11, Alexandra)

“I think we need to start looking at situations as tragedies as opposed to an opportunity to nail someone.” (47:12, Alexandra)

Contact Hunter Parnell:

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www.publicdefenseless.com