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Recovering Carceral Feminist-Ask Me How!

@leighgoodmark.bsky.social

6.9K followers 1.1K following 280 posts

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

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Recovering Carceral Feminist-Ask Me How! @leighgoodmark.bsky.social · Nov 16

The criminal legal system is the primary response to gender-based violence in the US, but victims of violence who don’t conform to stereotypes about “perfect” victims are punished harshly by that system every day-come for the anger-inducing stories, stay for the abolition feminism.

Cover of Imperfect Victims by Leigh Goodmark-black and hot pink like an 80s album cover

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Recovering Carceral Feminist-Ask Me How! @leighgoodmark.bsky.social · 3h

I told Anna Sinfield that the first season of The Girlfriends made me yell at the radio. She interviewed me anyway. 🤷‍♀️ Listen here: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/t...

The Girlfriends S3/Bonus Ep 3: Is Abolition the Answer?

Podcast Episode · The Girlfriends: Jailhouse Lawyer - Season 3 · S3, E11 Bonus · 42m

podcasts.apple.com

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Recovering Carceral Feminist-Ask Me How! @leighgoodmark.bsky.social · 5d

Right. That's my point. She acknowledged DVAM. She didn't acknowledge publicly that she had denied clemency to several criminalized survivors. I know that because I represent one of them and am in touch with the people who represent the others.

Recovering Carceral Feminist-Ask Me How! @leighgoodmark.bsky.social · 5d

Ending cash bail prevents criminalized survivors of gender-based violence from being held unnecessarily. Kudos to the anti-violence advocates in Illinois advocating for maintaining Illinois' bail reform law. 19thnews.org/2025/10/cash...

Trump says ending cash bail endangers women. Advocates say it protects them.

Recent reforms now require safety risk assessments when considering pretrial release from jail. These can benefit women on multiple levels, from those accused of crimes to survivors of gender-based vi...

19thnews.org

Recovering Carceral Feminist-Ask Me How! @leighgoodmark.bsky.social · 6d

My relationship to Judaism right now is...complicated. I didn't go to temple today. But I took the Yom Kippur Torah portion to heart: "Is not this the fast that I have chosen...to let the oppressed go free and that ye break every yoke." I took my fast to court. And the world got a little more just.

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Recovering Carceral Feminist-Ask Me How! @leighgoodmark.bsky.social · 7d

I'm not sure it's publicly available (I can't imagine the governor is publicizing it). I know because I represent one of the women and am in touch with the advocates who have worked with the others.

Recovering Carceral Feminist-Ask Me How! @leighgoodmark.bsky.social · 7d

The Governor of Michigan seems to be aware of domestic violence and yet just denied clemency to multiple criminalized survivors of violence. Is that irony? Or is it just deeply enraging? www.michigan.gov/whitmer/news...

www.michigan.gov

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Recovering Carceral Feminist-Ask Me How! @leighgoodmark.bsky.social · 8d

Tell me again how police keep us safe from sexual violence. www.justice.gov/opa/pr/forme...

Former California Police Officer Sentenced to Five Consecutive Life Sentences for Sexually Assaulting Four Women He Encountered While On Duty

J. DeShawn Torrence, 41, a former Sanger, California, police officer, was sentenced today to five consecutive life sentences for sexually assaulting four women whom he encountered during the course of...

www.justice.gov

Recovering Carceral Feminist-Ask Me How! @leighgoodmark.bsky.social · 10d

I learned today that the reason that I do not read science fiction is because I am a science idiot. 🤷‍♀️

Recovering Carceral Feminist-Ask Me How! @leighgoodmark.bsky.social · 15d

On brand-I’m spending my last hours before the Rapture at the Maryland Parole Commission

Reposted by Recovering Carceral Feminist-Ask Me How!

Julianne McShane @juliannemcshane.bsky.social · 15d

This Thursday I’ll be in conversation w/ @leighgoodmark.bsky.social about her work on decriminalizing domestic violence at @chjreportinghealth.bsky.social’s domestic violence symposium.

If you’re a journalist interested in reporting on DV, & getting funding to do so from USC, register & attend! ⤵️

Domestic Violence Symposium and Impact Reporting Fund

centerforhealthjournalism.org

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Reposted by Recovering Carceral Feminist-Ask Me How!

Julianne McShane @juliannemcshane.bsky.social · Sep 4

Super excited to be moderating a panel w/ @leighgoodmark.bsky.social on the criminalization of domestic violence at @chjreportinghealth.bsky.social's Domestic Violence Symposium on 9/25.

The event is free & attendance is required if you want to apply for a USC grant to support reporting on DV in CA

Domestic Violence Symposium and Impact Reporting Fund

centerforhealthjournalism.org

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Reposted by Recovering Carceral Feminist-Ask Me How!

law.umaryland.edu @law.umaryland.edu · Aug 29

Associate Dean @leighgoodmark.bsky.social featured in the @knowablemag.bsky.social article "Can a strategy shift reduce intimate partner violence?"

Knowable Magazine @knowablemag.bsky.social · Aug 29

New research, innovative programs and emboldened advocates are challenging decades-old conventions about how to respond to domestic abuse.

✍️ Katherine Ellison

knowmag.org/4n1eJZj

Can a strategy shift reduce intimate partner violence?

New research, innovative programs and emboldened advocates are challenging decades-old conventions about how to respond to domestic abuse

knowmag.org

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Recovering Carceral Feminist-Ask Me How! @leighgoodmark.bsky.social · Aug 6

Bittersweet when someone who never should have been charged, let alone spent more than a decade in prison, is released. Though she should not have been in, Alexis Martin is out. #FreeThemAll www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2025/...

Alexis Martin, prominent antitrafficking activist, released from prison

The case signals a shift in how victims of trafficking are treated when they commit crimes related to their abuse.

www.washingtonpost.com

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Recovering Carceral Feminist-Ask Me How! @leighgoodmark.bsky.social · Aug 5

My favorites are the ones who tell me they want to make a movie about my book. Because "Decriminalizing Domestic Violence" would make one hell of a movie--interesting characters, twisty plot...🤦

Recovering Carceral Feminist-Ask Me How! @leighgoodmark.bsky.social · Aug 5

Maryland Carey Law Professor @mgraber1.bsky.social in today's New York Times: “The Roberts court’s pro-Trump series of decisions creates reason for thinking that you might lose, even as every professor in your law school tells you the law is on your side.” www.nytimes.com/2025/08/05/o...

Opinion | The Supreme Court Has Finally Found a President It Likes

www.nytimes.com

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Reposted by Recovering Carceral Feminist-Ask Me How!

John Holbein @johnholbein1.bsky.social · Aug 1

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Recovering Carceral Feminist-Ask Me How! @leighgoodmark.bsky.social · Jul 31

And we appreciate you!

Reposted by Recovering Carceral Feminist-Ask Me How!

Prisonculture @prisonculture.bsky.social · Jul 27

"The Zaynab Project is a women-led, 100% volunteer-run nonprofit operating directly from within Gaza. We are part of the very communities we serve. No middlemen, no marketing costs, no admin fees — just local teams delivering urgent relief to those most in need."

Prisonculture @prisonculture.bsky.social · Jul 27

A good friend of mine [who is Palestinian] swears by this group doing work directly in Gaza: chuffed.org/campaign/zay...

The Zaynab Project: GAZA Relief

Our name is inspired by Zaynab bint Jahsh (RA) — wife of the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ, renowned for her extraordinary compassion and generosity.She was called the shelter for orphans, widows, and the needy....

chuffed.org

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Recovering Carceral Feminist-Ask Me How! @leighgoodmark.bsky.social · Jul 28

Gee, who would have guessed? 🙄

Survivors of coercive control are being criminalised in England, research finds

Centre for Women’s Justice says the criminalisation of women for their abusive partners’ actions is ‘shocking’

www.theguardian.com

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Reposted by Recovering Carceral Feminist-Ask Me How!

Leah Greenberg ❌👑 @leahgreenberg.bsky.social · Jul 26

Israel is starving Gaza's people. American funding and weapons are supporting this genocide. It's a moral horror of unfathomable scope. indivisible.org/resource/ong...

The Ongoing Moral Catastrophe in Gaza and US Complicity

indivisible.org

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Recovering Carceral Feminist-Ask Me How! @leighgoodmark.bsky.social · Jul 25

3 home. So many more to go. #FreeThemAll

Women in a New Jersey Prison Celebrate a New Shot at Clemency

Last year, Gov. Phil Murphy increased options for early release. It gave people in state prisons newfound hope.

prisonjournalismproject.org

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Recovering Carceral Feminist-Ask Me How! @leighgoodmark.bsky.social · Jul 24

Paper files were better. No matter how hard I try, I

Recovering Carceral Feminist-Ask Me How! @leighgoodmark.bsky.social · Jul 21

Glad to be found! :)

Recovering Carceral Feminist-Ask Me How! @leighgoodmark.bsky.social · Jul 21

Imagine a world in which we actually tried to address why people use violence rather than sending them to places where they are likely to experience trauma and that exacerbate the risks of future violence? www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...

More men are in prison on domestic violence offences. What can be done to prevent them reoffending?

Sydney’s Rainbow Lodge is a third option for offenders facing remand or a precarious return to the community – run by men with their own lived experience

www.theguardian.com

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Recovering Carceral Feminist-Ask Me How! @leighgoodmark.bsky.social · Jul 18

Female law profs: the phantom "law school isn't fair" guy added on this week--he told someone he would feel better if she would walk on his face. Has anyone else heard this one? Trying to figure out if it's human or chatbot.