Zoe Dronfield

🧵 Incredible. Georgia has PASSED The Georgia Survivor Justice Act, a landmark bill recognising the role domestic violence plays as a root cause to offending. The bill allows survivors to present evidence and seek reduced sentences, including resentencing, if they can prove domestic abuse played a role in their offence. “In Georgia alone, more than half of women serving life sentences are victims of abuse.” This is a monumental step and the UK should take notice... This bill recognises what research has long shown. A 2024 Stanford Law study reported by The New York Times surveyed 649 incarcerated women in California to trace the thread from intimate partner violence to prison. Their findings exposed what many of us know, and many others still choose to ignore: 🔺 134 women had killed their partners 🔺 110 experienced domestic abuse in the year before the offence 🔺 80 of 110 were in “extreme” or “severe danger” in the year before their crimes, Danger Assessments found 🔺 85 reported their partner had controlled most or all of their daily activities 🔺 83 said their partner had ‘forced them to have sex’ 🔺 69 said their partner had tried to ‘choke or strangle’ them 🔺 91 said they believed their partner was capable of killing them This bill can help recognise what so many justice systems around the world still refuse to confront: Many women are not offenders, they are victims of their own survival. What makes this bill different to Sally’s Law in E&W? It goes further. It recognises domestic abuse doesn’t just lead to homicide, it can lead to theft, drug charges, coerced acts - any offence rooted in abuse. And most of all, it’s gives women already incarcerated a chance to finally be HEARD. And too many women are paying the price for being unheard. My mother and I, and countless others who are still in this fight, understand that. Now so too must our justice systems. ➡️ independent.co.uk/news/georg…