Activism

New California Law Considers “Full Context” of Domestic Abuse Survivors’ Lives

Economic justice is a near-immediate, tangible solution to improve life for criminalized survivors of domestic violence. Many survivors hail from predominantly Black and Brown communities, which experience glaring income gaps, and oftentimes they take on the burden of childbearing while juggling the responsibilities of working and taking care of the children, she added.

Published

3 years ago

March 16, 2022

Oakland Post

It is important to get the message out about what real accountability looks like for people who have caused harm.

Charlene Muhammad | Oakland Post

Advocates for victims of domestic violence, including organizations like the Family Violence Law Center in Oakland, are applauding a new California law that was introduced by Sen. Sydney Kamlager (D-Los Angeles). The legislation passed both the Assembly and Senate last fall. It was signed into law by Gov. Newsom in October, and it took effect Jan. 1.

Assembly Bill (AB) 124, also known as the “Justice for Survivors” bill, provides support to survivors of violence, including intimate partner violence, sexual violence, and human trafficking.

AB 124 makes provisions for California’s criminal justice system to consider the full context of a person’s circumstances and experiences throughout the court process.

“The idea is more trauma informed sentencing, but I think it starts even before survivors even enter the criminal justice system. I think it’s really important to focus on the responders to the crisis,” stated Nashi Gunasekara, Housing and Gender Justice advocate at the Family Violence Law Center, which advocates for justice and healthy relationships by helping diverse communities in Alameda County heal from domestic violence and sexual assault.

“How responders complete paperwork, their judgment and assessments can all very drastically change the trajectory of a survivor in the criminal justice system, to the point where they may not even enter it, she said. “That’s almost how decisive these those moments of crisis intervention can be.”

According to statistics released by the American Civil Liberties Union, nearly 60 % of female state prisoners nationwide and as many as 94 % of certain female prison populations experienced physical or sexual abuse before being incarcerated.

“Black women make up 25% of the incarcerated population in California, yet are only 5% of the adult population, demonstrating an overrepresentation of Black women in prison. Similar disparities exist for other individuals of color, including Latinx, Asian and Pacific Islander, and Indigenous communities,” states the “Justice for Survivors” fact sheet, dated May 26, 2021.

Advocates who supported AB 124 say the legislation is particularly useful for survivors who have been criminalized, because the idea is to take into account factors like a history of abuse or domestic violence, mental illness, and others that may lead to certain moments of crisis when charging or sentencing individuals.

“When you have the right people there, responding to these moments of crises where law enforcement may not be entirely equipped with the information and knowledge to assess those situations correctly, I think we’re not only helping survivors heal, but we’re helping communities as well,” Gunasekara explained.

Part of Family Violence Law Center’s work is helping people to recognize the ways in which survivors can get caught up in the criminal justice system. That includes curbing the continued stigma for survivors of domestic violence and sexual assaults by reversing cultural messages that place blame and responsibility for abuse on survivors themselves, said Marissa Seko, Family Violence Intervention Unit Manager at the organization.

It is important to get the message out about what real accountability looks like for people who have caused harm, she urged.

Power and control, in relationships and within the larger culture are fundamental, core structures that allow domestic violence to continue, according to Seko. One of her clients has been repeatedly victimized by her abuser calling police and filing false Child Protective Services reports as retaliation for trying to leave the relationship, Seko shared.

When a person who is causing the harm has more race or gender privilege than the person they are abusing, they can sometimes use the system against that survivor. That plays out in the ability to pay for lawyers, fight through family law boards, and believability when police are called, according to Seko.

Her agency commonly sees abusers using the system against survivors and weaponizing privileges they have against people with less knowledge or access, she said.

Economic justice is a near-immediate, tangible solution to improve life for criminalized survivors of domestic violence, according to Seko. Many survivors hail from predominantly Black and Brown communities, which experience glaring income gaps, and oftentimes they take on the burden of childbearing while juggling the responsibilities of working and taking care of the children, she added.

According to the National Network to End Domestic Violence, financial abuse occurs in 99% of domestic violence cases, and is often cited by victims of abuse as the main reason that they stayed with or returned to an abusive partner.

“It’s hard to survive or make decisions when one feels economically insecure,” said Seko.

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Oakland Post: Week of October 9 – 15, 2024

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of October 9 – 15, 2024

Published

2 hours ago

October 13, 2024

Oakland Post

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‘Respect Our Vote’ Mass Meeting Rejects Oakland, Alameda County Recalls

The mass meeting, attended mostly by members of local Asian American communities, was held in a large banquet room in a Chinese restaurant in Alameda. The Respect Our Vote (ROV) coalition, consisting of concerned community members and groups, is organizing meetings in Oakland and around Alameda County leading up to the November election.

Published

2 weeks ago

September 28, 2024

Oakland Post

Some of the leaders who spoke at the Respect Our Vote – No Recalls!” mass meeting were (left to right): Elaine Peng, Mariano Contreras, Pastor Servant B.K. Woodson, and Stewart Chen. Photo by Ken Epstein.

By Ken Epstein

A recently organized coalition, “Respect Our Vote – No Recalls!,” held a standing-room only mass meeting on Sept. 14, urging residents to vote ‘No’ on the two East Bay recalls funded by conservative billionaires and millionaires with the help of corporate media and instead to support the campaign to protect residents’ democratic right to choose their representatives.

The mass meeting, attended mostly by members of local Asian American communities, was held in a large banquet room in a Chinese restaurant in Alameda.

The Respect Our Vote (ROV) coalition, consisting of concerned community members and groups, is organizing meetings in Oakland and around Alameda County leading up to the November election.

Speaking at the meeting, prominent East Bay leader Stewart Chen said that local leaders, like Alameda County D.A. Pamela Price and Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao, worked hard to get elected, and our system says they get four years to carry out their policies and campaign promises. But rich people have “broken” that system.

Within two months after they took office, they were facing recalls paid for by billionaires, he said. “(Billionaires’) candidate did not get elected, so they want to change the system.”

“(Our elected leaders) were elected through the process, and the people spoke,” said Chen. “It’s the entire system that the billionaires are trying to (overturn).”

“If a candidate does something wrong or enacts a policy that we do not like, we let it play out, and in four years, we do not have to vote for them.

“The democratic system that we have had in place for a couple of hundred years, it needs our help,” said Chen.

Pastor Servant B.K. Woodson, a leader of the coalition, emphasized the diversity and solidarity needed to defend democracy. “We need each other’s wisdom to make our nation great, to make it safe. We are deliberately African American, English-speaking, Latino American, Spanish-speaking, and all the wonderful dialects in the Asian communities. We want to be together, grow together, and have a good world together.”

Mariano Contreras of the Latino Task Force said that people need to understand what is at stake now.

The recall leaders are connected to conservative forces that will undermine public education, and bilingual education, he said. “The people behind (the recalls) are being used by outside dark money,” he said. The spokespeople of these recalls are themselves conservatives “who are wearing a mask that says they are progressives.”

In 2017, Oakland passed an ordinance that gave teeth to its “Sanctuary City” policy, which was brought to the City Council and passed because it was supported by progressive members on the council.

“That would not be possible anymore if the progressive alliance – Sheng Thao, Nikki Fortunato Bas, and Carroll Fife – if they are pushed out,” he said.

Elaine Peng, president of Asian Americans for Progressive America, said, “I strongly oppose the recalls of Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao and Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price.”

Citing statistics, she said Alameda County’s murder rate was higher when Alameda County D.A. Nancy O’Malley was in office, before Pamela Price was elected to that position.

“The recall campaign has been misleading the public,” said Peng.

She said Oakland is making progress under Thao. “Crime rates are falling in Oakland,” and the City is building more affordable housing than ever before and is creating more jobs.

Attorney Victor Ochoa said, this recall is “not by accident in Oakland – it is a political strategy.”

“There is a strategy that has been launched nationwide. What we’re seeing is oligarchs, (such as Phillip Dreyfuss from Piedmont), right wingers, conservatives, who can write a check for $400,000 like some of us can write a check for $10.”

“They aligned themselves with so-called moderate forces, but they’re not moderates. They align themselves with the money, and that’s what we have seen in Oakland.”

Ochoa continued, “You got to put up signs, you’ve got to talk to your neighbors, volunteer whatever hours you can, have a house meeting. That’s the way progressives win.”

Pecolia Manigo of Oakland Rising Action spoke about what it will take to defeat the recalls. “This is the time when you are not only deputized to go out and do outreach, we need to make sure that people actually vote.

“We need everyone to vote not just for the president, but all the way down the ballot to where these questions will be. Remind people to fill out their ballot, and mail it back.”

Former Oakland Mayor Jean Quan, who had herself faced a recall attempt, said, “In this recall, they used a lot of money, had paid signature gatherers, and they moved very fast. I talked to many of the people gathering signatures. They didn’t know what was going on. Many of them didn’t live in Oakland. It was just money for them.”

“Sam Singer, the guy who is their spokesperson, is a paid PR guy. He has media ties, so they’ve swamped the media against Sheng,” Quan said.

‘Oakland is… a city that implemented some of the first rent control protections in the country. So, developers and big apartment owners would love to get rid of rent control,” said Quan.

“We also established ranked-choice voting, which allows people with less money to coalesce and win elections,” she said. “That’s too democratic for people with big money. They would rather have elections the way they were.”