Day 15 | 16 Days of Activism against gender-based violence

Why are our prisons full of domestic violence victims? 🤔

Domestic and family violence is a driving factor in the incarceration of First Nations women through misidentification by police and other authorities.

Women are misidentified as perpetrators due to misconceptions about the nature of DFV and when, how and why women use violence.

Women who have used retaliatory or pre-emptive violence in response to abuse, or to protect themselves or their children, are often misidentified as the primary perpetrator of the abuse… & there is a systemic failure to support them to tell their story in the justice system.

⚖️ In the past nine months, CAWLS has assisted close to 40 women who have had applications for Domestic Violence Orders (DVO’s) made against them.

CAWLS is calling for women defendants to have access to specialist representation, to ensure their use of violence is placed in the full context of their experience of domestic and family violence.

🔎 Read more via 👇
📖 The Conversation : “Increased incarceration of First Nations women is interwoven with the experience of violence and trauma”
📖 NT Balance : “Coercive control, social entrapment and criminalised women”