POST CERD REVIEW: ASSESSING SYSTEMIC RACISM AND ABUSED WOMEN
THE UNADDRESSED CONSEQUENCES OF SYSTEMIC RACISM FOR ABUSED WOMEN
Violence against women is recognized as a significant problem in U.S. culture. As is race. African American women face difficulties in seeking and obtaining remedies for intimate partner violence that come more easily to other women. Because of the gross over-representation of men of color, particularly African-American men, in the criminal justice system, women can be discouraged by their communities from seeking police help or cooperating with prosecution where the partner is someone of color. (See Michelle Alexander’s The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness (2010) for her work on over-representation issues; and Lisa M. Martinson, The Effect of Racism on Domestic Violence Resources, 16 Wisconsin Women’s Law Journal (2001).
There are many substantial reasons why women may not wish to pursue criminal action against intimate partners, particularly when they have children in common with that partner or when prior police response has been dismissive or resulted in calls to child protective services.
Battered women seek police protection to stop the violence, not necessarily to effect arrest. However, when a woman of color is severely injured by an intimate partner, community pressure to prevent her access to state remedies can leave the survivor particularly vulnerable to further abuse. Discouraging any path of protection empowers abusers and encourages an escalation of abuse.
Lack of fairness in our criminal justice system has implications beyond the very real racial bias against men of color, who are much more likely to be arrested by police than their white counterparts and who are sentenced more harshly.
Because of the widespread injustice in arresting, prosecuting and sentencing men of color, women of color are discouraged from accessing some avenues of protection. The stakes are simply too high. Women know that if their perpetrators are men of color, the consequences of state involvement could be severe. Beth Ritchie in her 1996 book, Compelled to Crime, wrote of this constraint. “…[S]ome women abided by the culturally constructed perception that African American women’s role was to be protective of African American men who, indeed, were vulnerable to the effects of institutionalized racism.” And the problem of over-incarceration of men of color has only worsened since the publication of Richie’s book two decades ago.
The imperative to protect African-American men from the real dangers of hyper-incarceration can create serious pressure for their abused partners, asking women to value their own needs less than the freedom of their abusers. When a woman is in danger of being killed or suffering other serious injury, should she be discouraged from seeking protection in whatever form she chooses? The subversion of safety needs to the protection of the abusive partner is a dilemma for battered women, particularly for women of color.
The preliminary Concluding Observations of CERD address both violence against women and the over incarceration of African Americans. The impact of this intersection is unaddressed. If the US wishes to commit to stopping violence against women and providing effective remedies, then systemic changes in how men of color are treated within the criminal justice system must be prioritized.