Domestic Violence Awareness Month (DVAM) is recognized in October and is a time to acknowledge the millions affected by domestic violence, elevate survivors’ stories, and raise awareness of the lasting impact of abuse. It also offers an opportunity to examine how our systems respond to survivors, particularly those whose experiences intersect with the criminal legal system. At Missouri Appleseed, our Survivors’ Justice Project addresses an often-overlooked reality: some incarcerated individuals have criminal convictions linked to experienced abuse, coercion, and trauma. Their stories prompt us to examine convictions and consider the circumstances that influence an individual’s actions.
Understanding the Connection Between Domestic Violence and Incarceration
Domestic violence can affect nearly every aspect of a survivor’s life, including safety, relationships, decision-making, and the ability to leave an abusive situation. Abuse is not limited to physical violence. It can also involve coercion, threats, intimidation, and patterns of control that make it difficult for a survivor to act freely or safely. For some survivors, these effects extend into the criminal legal system.
An abusive partner may pressure or manipulate someone into participating in criminal acts. A survivor may act in response to a threat, attempt to protect themselves or their children, or make decisions under circumstances shaped by prolonged abuse. In other cases, the link between a person’s experience of abuse and their criminal conviction may be less immediately apparent. These experiences are complex, and no two survivors have the same story. However, when the circumstances surrounding a conviction are not fully considered, a survivor’s history of abuse may remain largely invisible during sentencing. A conviction tells us what the person was found guilty of. It does not necessarily tell us the full story of how they got there.
Advancing the Missouri Survivors’ Justice Act
Missouri Appleseed’s Survivors’ Justice Project seeks to change how the criminal legal system recognizes the relationship between domestic violence, coercion, and criminal convictions. Through our work supporting the Missouri Survivors’ Justice Act, we are advocating for legislation that would allow people who have experienced abuse or coercion to present evidence of those experiences as a mitigating factor during sentencing. This means broader circumstances surrounding an offense would be considered when determining an appropriate sentence, helping ensure survivors’ experiences are recognized.
Recognizing the role of abuse does not mean excusing harm or eliminating accountability. It means acknowledging that a fair sentence must consider the full context of an individual’s actions, including any abuse or coercion that may have influenced them. A justice system can recognize the harm caused by an offense and the harm a person has experienced. Considering both is an important part of pursuing a more complete and informed understanding of justice.
Listening to Survivors and Elevating their Stories
A central part of the Survivors’ Justice Project is listening to currently and formerly incarcerated survivors and learning from their experiences. Through our story banking work, Missouri Appleseed has spoken with formerly incarcerated women whose lives and convictions have been impacted by domestic violence, coercion, and other forms of abuse. Their experiences reveal the complicated ways that abuse can influence decision-making, relationships, substance use, and interactions with institutions meant to provide protection and support.
Continuing the Work Beyond October
DVAM reminds us that addressing domestic violence requires more than recognizing that abuse exists. It calls for examining the systems survivors encounter and working toward meaningful change. The Survivors’ Justice Project is advancing the Missouri Survivors’ Justice Act through advocacy and collaboration with community partners, advocates, and legislators.
Although Domestic Violence Awareness Month has come to an end, we must not stop our advocacy, and we must remember that survivors’ experiences do not end when an abusive relationship does. The consequences of abuse can follow people into courtrooms, correctional facilities, and the rest of their lives. Every survivor deserves to have their experiences heard, and every effort to build a more just system should begin with a willingness to hear the full story and act on it.
Full justice is served when the full story is heard.
