Project Period: 2018-2022
More than 150,000 women are incarcerated in the United States in state, local, and federal facilities, and more than a million additional women are under correctional control on probation or parole. Many women with a history of incarceration are survivors of victimization—86 percent report a history of sexual victimization, 77 percent have experienced intimate partner violence, and 60 percent have experienced caregiver violence.
The Leadership of Voices of Experience (LOVE) Project was a collaborative effort between Justice + Joy, the National Black Women’s Justice Institute, Young Women’s Freedom Center, and the LOVE Subject Matter Experts Advisory Group. This collaboration brought together formerly incarcerated individuals and leaders in criminal justice reform, victim service providers, gender-responsive service providers, and additional advocates focused on supporting survivors of incarceration and gender-based violence.
This partnership led to the development of the LOVE Curriculum for Providers, a resource to build the capacity of victim service providers to better support formerly incarcerated cis and trans women and girls, and gender-expansive people (i.e., gender nonconforming, genderqueer, nonbinary people).
This project was supported by Grant No. 2018-TA-AX-K019 awarded by the Office on Violence Against Women, U.S. Department of Justice. The opinions, findings, conclusions, and recommendations expressed in this publication/program/exhibition are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the U.S. Department of Justice.
