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“Three out of every four incarcerated women across the country once faced domestic violence, a factor advocates now say judges in New Jersey should consider when sentencing them to prison.
“That trauma, according to a report from the National Center for Victims of Crime, can lead those women feeling isolated, alone, shamed or at fault for what happened.
We isolate and we then begin to blame ourselves … It’s never our fault.
“Now, if four bills become law, survivors of domestic violence in New Jersey could soon receive enhanced protections and resentencing for certain previous crimes after an Assembly committee cleared the measures earlier this month. …
“Survivors, including author and activist Dr. Donna Hylton [Leading with Conviction™ 2015], provided emotional testimony about how this violence has impacted their lives and mental health during the Assembly committee hearing last week. According to her testimony, Hylton was trafficked, molested and raped as a child. She eventually spent 27 years in New York state’s maximum security prison for women.
“‘Women will not tell you that they are being abused or have been abused. There’s shame, there’s guilt, there’s embarrassment, but the most important thing — there’s abject fear,’ said Hylton, the founder and CEO of A Little Piece of Light, a nonprofit.
“‘If we see a deer in headlights, it freezes. It gets paralyzed and it does not know what to do. We’re human beings. We have the same instincts. We shut down, we isolate and we then begin to blame ourselves and to carry this like it’s our fault. It’s never our fault,’ said Hylton.
“Two of the bills that cleared the Assembly Judiciary Committee last week would allow New Jersey judges to consider a history of domestic violence abuse when sentencing defendants and provide a pathway for expungement for certain defendants who are victims of abuse. Collectively, the bills are known as the ‘Survivors Justice Act.’ In 2019, New York passed the Domestic Violence Survivors Justice Act, which Hylton contributed to, according to her testimony.”
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