As we mark Women’s History Month, the work to ensure women and children are safe is ongoing. Nearly a quarter of women in the U.S. have reported experiencing severe physical violence by an intimate partner in their lifetime. The prevalence of domestic abuse alone might seem reason enough to make it a near-constant conversation, but in most of our communities — and most of our churches — this is still a space of whispers.
Meanwhile, according to The Sentencing Project, the number of incarcerated women has grown more than 600% from 1980-2023, as the era of mass incarceration has continued with a relentless and deeply racist fury. But we don’t talk too much about that, either.
When we engage in these conversations we simplify and mischaracterize the connection between incarceration and domestic abuse. We like to imagine that the criminal justice system is an abused person’s ultimate and most reliable protector. The reality is otherwise. In fact, domestic violence survivors themselves are often criminalized and punished by the very systems that claim to keep them safe. The numbers make this clear; about 8 in 10 incarcerated women were severely abused as children and about 7 in 10 experienced serious violence from an intimate partner in adulthood. Often, the court will not adequately consider a woman’s prior experience of abuse when sentencing her — even when that abuse is directly relevant to the circumstances of the crime with which she’s been charged.
But that’s starting to change.
The Domestic Violence Survivors Justice Act (DVSJA) was passed in New York in 2019. This groundbreaking legislation allows judges to consider the context of abuse when survivors of domestic violence — and it allows domestic violence survivors who were sentenced prior to the DVSJA to seek relief and resentencing. The Survivors Justice Project and its forebears in the Coalition for Women Prisoners are to credit for this powerful advocacy victory. This work continues today through the Survivors Justice Project’s faithful — and necessary — efforts to ensure its full implementation.
This reform has not been confined to New York either; in 2024 and 2025, respectively, Oklahoma and Georgia each passed their own versions of this legislation. The Oklahoma Survivors Act and the Georgia Survivor Justice Act have continued this momentum for sentencing reform in pursuit of freedom for domestic violence survivors. Women on the Rise GA, led by Robyn Hasan-Simpson, drove this impactful work in Georgia.
I (Cynthia Holland) was proud to advocate alongside Women on the Rise GA and partner organizations this spring in the furious final weeks of the legislation session. The work of Women on Rise GA, Robyn, and others bore fruit this summer when the Georgia Survivor Justice Act was passed and signed into law.
We are fortunate enough to live in two of the three states that have recently passed much-needed sentencing reforms to decarcerate domestic violence survivors in New York and Georgia. Our states are different. One is a blue state. One is a red state. One is in the South. One is in the North. What they have in common are powerhouse communities of incarcerated and formerly incarcerated women and domestic violence survivors who push relentlessly for change, drawing in allies, building movements, and ultimately securing incredible victories that provide a national model. We celebrate their incredible work. And we know that the work is not done. What has happened in New York, Oklahoma, and Georgia is a commonsense reform that can — and should — be happening in every single state.
But to do that, we have to talk about it. Incarcerated domestic violence survivors are far too often silenced and ignored, their stories swept under the rug by a culture — and even a church — that doesn’t care to hear what they have to say. As women of faith, we are not willing — or morally able — to clamp our hands over our ears and pretend that we don’t hear them speaking to us.
That’s why our organization — United Women in Faith — recently screened “Beyond Survival,” an amazing film by Kashif and the Women & Justice Project that tells the story of the ten-year Coalition for Women Prisoners’ campaign to pass the DVSJA. We followed the film with a panel of leaders from both the Survivors Justice Project and Women on the Rise GA. More than two hundred women showed up to view and listen.
We feel called to join in the movement for freedom for incarcerated domestic violence survivors. We invite all women and their allies to connect with campaigns that advocate for sentencing reform for survivors. No survivors should suffer in silence. Survivors need healing and support, not a prison sentence.
Emily Jones is the Executive for Racial Justice at United Women in Faith, the nation’s largest denominational organization for women. Cynthia Holland is a consultant with the Office of Racial Justice at United Women in Faith.