A documentary about survivors of home violence in New Jersey is getting used to advocate for sentencing reform.
‘Set Her Free: Exposing the Trauma to Jail Pipeline’ follows the lives of a number of ladies previously and nonetheless incarcerated, together with its government producer, Dr. Jamila Davis, who’re combating for the passage of the Home Violence Survivors Justice Act. Davis, who answered questions from theGrio over e mail correspondence, defined that the movie is “deliberately designed to sit down on the intersection of storytelling and coverage.”
“It’s not simply consciousness. It’s advocacy with a goal,” Davis mentioned in an e mail. “I see Set Her Free as a mannequin for a way lived expertise, information, and legislative reform can transfer collectively, not individually.”
Davis’ aim is that the motion she and the “Set Her Free” group soak up New Jersey could be replicated everywhere in the nation. Based on a 2023 report from the Security and Justice Problem, 75 % of ladies who had been or are presently incarcerated have been victims of home violence.
This movie is private for Davis. She served a 12.5-year sentence for financial institution fraud and was additionally a survivor of home abuse. The movie connects how previous abuse impacted the ladies’s lives and led them to commit crimes and obtain lengthy sentences.
The opposite ladies featured are Daybreak Jackson, Denise Staples, Myrna Diaz, Donna Hylton, Nafeesah Goldsmith, and Cass Extreme. The entire ladies skilled sexual and home violence, and served or are serving a sentence at New Jersey’s Enda Mahan Correctional Facility. Within the movie, Extreme can also be working to assist her buddy, Natasha White, be launched.
State Sen. Angela V. McKnight (D) launched the DVSJA invoice in June, which might enable judges to cut back the sentences for survivors of home violence who can set up that their abuse was a big contributing issue to their offense. The invoice was already handed in New York in 2019. McKnight turned concerned with Davis and the movie by a mutual buddy, in accordance with New Jersey City Information.
“She understood instantly that this wasn’t only a movie, it was proof,” Davis instructed theGrio of McKnight. “Her management helped translate these lived experiences into legislative language, and that relationship ensured the movie didn’t cease at consciousness however moved straight into motion.”
On Monday, December 15, at 10 a.m., the New Jersey Senate will vote on the invoice, and Davis might be in attendance alongside Jackson and Hylton. Jackson, whose case was publicized by Kim Kardashian, was launched from jail in 2024 after combating for clemency since 2018.
Jackson was sentenced to 30 years in jail in 1999 for murdering her step-grandfather, who had sexually abused her since she was a younger little one. She wrote to Kardashian to share her story, explaining how details about the abuse she suffered was not allowed to be shared throughout her trial. Just a few months earlier than Jackson was granted clemency, New Jersey’s governor Phil Murphy launched the Clemency Initiative to expedite the evaluate of instances like hers.
“One of many largest misconceptions is that the justice system already takes abuse under consideration. Most individuals, together with lawmakers, assume judges can absolutely weigh long-term home violence throughout sentencing,” Davis mentioned.”
She defined that one other false impression round sentencing abuse survivors is {that a} harsh sentence means somebody is a harmful offender.
“In actuality, many survivors spent years making an attempt to get assist, calling the police, trying to depart, and residing with fixed worry, earlier than a single incident modified the course of their lives,” she mentioned. “The system usually seems to be solely at that second, not the years of abuse that led as much as it.”
Change could also be on the horizon if the state senate votes for DVSJA tomorrow. However, for Davis, the work of the documentary can also be to vary the notion of “criminalized survivors,” lots of whom are punished for defending themselves in opposition to abusers or for surviving their abuse and reacting to their trauma in a while.
She mentioned the movie asks most of the people and lawmakers to think about the total story of an individual who dedicated against the law after lengthy struggling, as a result of the context finally issues.
“These aren’t individuals who got down to trigger hurt,” Davis mentioned. “They’re ladies who had been compelled to make unimaginable selections after years of abuse, coercion, and worry.”
If you happen to or somebody is experiencing home violence, assist is obtainable. You’ll be able to contact the Nationwide Home Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-SAFE (7233) or go to thehotline.org for confidential assist.
