WJP was featured in this article about the 2019 Domestic Violence Survivors Justice Act in the March 2020 issue of New York State Bar Association Journal, authored by Cynthia Feathers of the NYS Office of Indigent Legal Services. The article discusses the historical context behind the legislation and offers insight into the DVSJA’s past, present, and future.
Read the full article HERE.
“Last year, significant progress was finally achieved. A decade-long crusade by the Coalition for Women Prisoners – a broad group including legislators, judges, survivors, currently and formerly incarcerated persons, defense lawyers, and domestic violence advocates – resulted in the overhaul of sentencing laws for domestic violence survivors. Signed into law in May 2019, the Domestic Violence Survivors Justice Act (DVSJA) gives judges discretion to sentence certain survivors to much shorter prison terms, and in some cases, to community based alternatives to incarceration. The new law also makes resentencing available for some previously sentenced survivors.”
Cynthia Feathers
NY State Office of Indigent Legal Services