What happens when the laws that are supposed to protect survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault become turned against them? Survivors can be criminalized for reacting in self-defense, participating in criminal activity under their abusers’ coercion, or for failing to protect their children from witnessing or being impacted by violence in the home. Survivors of color, who struggle with mental health or substance dependency, or who otherwise don’t fold the “perfect victim” mold are disproportionately incarcerated. In this workshop, API-GBV was joined by Hyejin Shim and Neda Said of Survived & Punished, who guided participants through a discussion of the criminalization of survivors, and how advocates can support criminalized survivors.

This training was funded by Grant #90EV0526 from the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS); Administration for Children and Families; Administration of Children, Youth and Families; Family Violence Division. The viewpoints contained in this publication are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views or policies of the Administration for Children and Families.