As part of our continuing series of articles on how true crime harms criminalized survivors, Kim Hricko, @kwanetaharris.bsky.social and I published this piece on Snapped on The Culture We Deserve: theculturewedeserve.substack.com/p/the-true-h...
@leighgoodmark
Professor at Maryland Carey Law, director of Gender, Prison, and Trauma Clinic, author of Imperfect Victims: Criminalized Survivors and the Promise of Abolition Feminism and Decriminalizing Domestic Violence (UC Press). She/her/mom. leighgoodmark.com
As part of our continuing series of articles on how true crime harms criminalized survivors, Kim Hricko, @kwanetaharris.bsky.social and I published this piece on Snapped on The Culture We Deserve: theculturewedeserve.substack.com/p/the-true-h...
We loved having you-thanks for coming!
Kim Hricko, @kwanetaharris.bsky.social, and I recently published an article on how true crime media harms criminalized survivors. Here's another facet of that harm: true crime exposes incarcerated women to men seeking to sexually exploit them. @truthout.org truthout.org/articles/inc...
black and white photo of an industrial air pump at a rest stop with a hand painted sign that reads "air. this is your country don't let the big men take it away from you"
Dorothea Lange. Kern County, California (1938)
"The violence we experience inside is not a different or separate kind of violence. It is gender-based violence, and it's enabled by your silence. So let me ask again: Ain't I a woman? And if I am, then where are you?" My brilliant friend, @kwanetaharris.bsky.social:
Picture of an email asking me to consider making my academic non-fiction book into a movie.
I love these emails. Which character in Decriminalizing Domestic Violence do you think suggested real screen potential?
Also, thanks to @christopher-lau.bsky.social, @ggkrishnamoomoo.bsky.social, Daniel Harawa and Jacob Charles for their work related to and/or thoughts about this article.
This five year old is still in jail
To be very, very clear: Zackey Rahimi should not have a gun. Ever.
First page of Leigh Goodmark, Intimate Partner Firearm Violence and Abolition Feminism, in Social Research: An International Quarterly
When I was asked to sign an amicus brief in U.S. v. Rahimi, I reflexively said yes--no one who uses violence should have a gun. Then I remembered that the criminal legal system would enforce the prohibition. #Abolitionfeminism means saying no to the criminal system. My latest @socres.org:
Client's application for a pardon of her federal conviction was denied (the judge felt so strongly that the client deserved mercy that he advocated against her deportation after her conviction). Apparently we didn't submit the one thing that the Administration requires before considering a pardon.
Photographs of 2026 Legal Theory Workshop Speakers, including Brooklyn Hitchens, Sheldon Evans, Wojciech Sadurski, Alexis Hoag-Fordjour, Shirley Lin, Kathleen Engel, Susan McMahon, Daniel Harawa, Ned Foley, Erika George, and Aaron Mills.
One of the highlights of being associate dean for research at Maryland Carey Law is welcoming scholars from across the country (including @ahoagfordjour.bsky.social, @profshirleylin.bsky.social, and @susanmcmahon.bsky.social). Looking forward to this semester's Legal Theory Workshops!
Kim Hricko, @kwanetaharris.bsky.social, and I discuss the impact of true crime on criminalized survivors (spoiler: it's devastating) in "The True Harms of True Crime." Find it here: wjlgs.law.wisc.edu/2026/volume-.... Special thanks to @rlopez.bsky.social, who is the godmother of this piece.
I mean, I expected this result. Economic security decreases intimate partner violence. Give money to the people that need it-not to police and prisons. #AbolitionFeminismNow
This doesnβt bode well.
If I were supreme ruler of all things lexical (a word I just looked up), I would outlaw the use of the word "unfortunately." I have spoken.
Preventing harm before it happens, providing safe and non-judgmental spaces in which people who are considering harm can get help without requiring them to be criminalized--this is exactly the kind of thing we should be doing, and House of Ruth is doing it in Maryland.
Chocolate chip cookies
Peppermint chocolate cookies
Eggnog snickerdoodle cookies
Today this is a baking account. Chunky Lola cookies (Flour Bakery recipe), chocolate peppermint brownie cookies, and eggnog snickerdoodles (@nytimes.com). Snow outside, cookies inside.
Iβve been doing this for more than 30 years, and if I ever stop being nervous before I walk into court, Iβll know itβs time to stop.
Today's fun fact: if "blue" "progressive" Maryland was a country, we would incarcerate more women per capita than 153 countries, including Canada, China, Argentina, and Venezuela, and would be tied with the Russian Federation. #TheMoreYouKnow www.prisonpolicy.org/global/women...
Have you read Guilty by Definition? Seems like it would be right up your alley.
Picture of a group of people with the headline βJudge denies Oklahoma Survivors Act resentencing, extending ongoing trendβ
Making my point for me:
I quit 10 minutes in. It takes a really good show to hold me for more than a season or two these days.
Thanks to @scholars.org for assistance with editing and pitching!
As a pragmatic abolitionist, I'll use any tool I can to get people out of prison. But laws decreasing sentences for/allowing for resentencing of criminalized survivors are not everything we need to prevent injustice. We need for survivors not to be prosecuted at all. Mine @truthout.org.
Supporting Our Inside-Out Prison Writing Community chuffed.org/project/1574...
Also an excellent choice.