Our Work

After surviving years of abuse at the hands of an intimate partner, battered women are often thrown into a criminal justice system that has yet to fully recognize the connection between domestic violence and the commission of crimes.

Once behind bars serving unproportionately long sentences for defending themselves against their abusers, or for committing other acts due to the abuse, incarcerated survivors of domestic violence are forgotten about – their stories untold, their trauma unaddressed, their strength unacknowledged.

Free Battered Women seeks systemic change in how the criminal justice system treats survivors of domestic violence, and understands the importance of a multi-pronged approach that seeks to educate and dispel misperceptions about the intersection between criminal justice and domestic violence.

Through public education, community organizing, advocacy for support groups (both peer-led and professionally facilitated), policy work, and legal action, Free Battered Women seeks to create sustainable change with and for incarcerated survivors of domestic violence.