NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — The Nashville District Attorney's Office will start a pilot program helping women who are victims of gender-based violence from becoming incarcerated.
Research shows there is a strong correlation between women who are victims of violence and eventually getting involved in the criminal justice system.
This is especially true among Black women, and the research is staggering. According to the National Black Women's Justice Institute, more than 2 in 5 Black women have experienced sexual violence, physical violence, and/or stalking by an intimate partner. Black women are three times more likely to be shot and killed by their partners compared to white women between the ages of 18 and 34. Black women also report higher rates of sexual harassment than any other group.
Then the victims have few resources to help them heal or survive the abuse, which leads them to take paths that are often criminalized.
86 percent of women in jail have faced sexual violence, and sometimes they cannot get away from gender-based violence even while incarcerated.
The Nashville DA's Office was selected by the Association of Prosecuting Attorneys to start a pilot program dedicated to helping survivors of gender-based violence get the resources they need to address their trauma and prevent the pathway to incarceration.
The office will partner with YWCA Nashville and Middle Tennessee to provide services.
This pilot program, which is being announced during Domestic Violence Awareness Month, will then be used as research to eventually create other programs like this to help victims nationwide.
