Florida: Beaming woman in flounced light blue top, jeans, necklace, earrings talks to three young women sitting down; one is turned to her and smiling.

Why Focusing On Women, Girls Could Reduce Gun Violence

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JACKSONVILLE, Florida — Rosie Brooks has experienced both of a mother’s worst nightmares involving gun violence. Her son spent a decade behind bars for an accidental shooting in which a young woman was killed. Then, instead of a joyous reunion when he was released from prison in January 2018, it was a day of mourning. He went from behind bars to standing at his mother’s side at his sister’s funeral. Brooks’ daughter Sahara Barkley had been shot on New Year’s Day at a gas station.

Rehabilitation concept. Wooden signboards pointing different directions to RECOVERY and ADDICTION on landscape background

Opinion: After Abusive, Neglected Childhood, He Struggled to Get Off Drugs In Prison

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Looking back at my youth and trying to pinpoint where did I go wrong and how did I go wrong, I realized that the whole time I was trying to get my basic needs met. Needs such as love and a sense of belonging, survival and freedom. My earliest memory was around the age of 5 that I realized that we didn’t have enough food in our home. My daily meal was a small bowl of dirty brown rice with maybe a small chunk of pork fat because we could not afford meat. Pork fat was cheaper than red meat.

domestic violence: Woman with red hair, glasses, necklace is seen both next to and reflected in mirror at right

Only One Alabama Program Works on Domestic Violence Plus Firearms

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When Susan Shipman took a job as a bookkeeper at a women’s shelter in Anniston in 2003, she didn’t realize how close to her own home violence already was.

“I signed up for a flexible, part-time job,” Shipman, 57, said. “And I found myself in the movement to end violence against women.” 

By 2006, Shipman was the executive director of 2nd Chance Inc., a nonprofit safety and support organization for victims of domestic and sexual violence serving nearly 500 women and children annually in North Alabama.

abuse: domestic violence, abuse and people concept — man beating helpless scared girl

Does Abuse Lead to Incarceration For Girls? Usually Yes

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Recently a trial judge in Washington state’s King County Superior Court discussed his three years presiding in juvenile court. Roger Rogoff described this time a...

guilt: Translucent ghostly hands beating man. Concept of psychological self-flagellation, self-punishment, self-abasement, self-harm guilt feeling.

Guilt, Self-hate and Forgiveness

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People find it difficult to admit fault. We would rather receive an apology than apologize for our own wrongdoings. It is a position of power: having the ability to forgive someone or not, rather than being at the mercy of another, in a vulnerable position.  

Book review: Troubled teenage girl behind bars

A Compassionate Tribute to Incarcerated Children That Exposes Their Trauma, Anger

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Jane Guttman’s “Kids in Jail: A Portrait of Life Without Mercy” gives poetic voice to children who are trapped in the catacombs of society with little hope of resurrection. It is a gut-wrenching, graceful and dignified look at lives that are painfully scarred by conditions and circumstances that were preordained out of neglect, abuse, poverty, chance or a combination of all these elements.

We Must Decriminalize Trauma for Girls with Histories of Abuse or Neglect

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Girls’ involvement in the juvenile justice system is growing disproportionately at a time when arrest rates for boys are declining. And yet, girls’ behavior has not changed; rather, our response to their behavior has changed. This is especially true for girls in the child welfare system.