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Arrested Justice: Black Women, Violence, and America’s Prison Nation
Black women in marginalized communities are uniquely at risk of battering, rape, sexual harassment, stalking and incest. Through the compelling stories of Black women who have been most affected by racism, persistent poverty, class inequality, limited access to support resources or institutions, Beth E. Richie shows that the threat of violence to Black women has never been more serious, demonstrating how conservative legal, social, political and economic policies have impacted activism in the US-based movement to end violence against women. Richie argues that Black women face particular peril because of the ways that race and culture have not figured centrally enough in the analysis of the causes and consequences of gender violence. As a result, the extent of physical, sexual and other forms of violence in the lives of Black women, the various forms it takes, and the contexts within which it occurs are minimized - at best - and frequently ignored. Arrested Justice brings issues of sexuality, class, age, and criminalization into focus right alongside of questions of public policy and gender violence, resulting in a compelling critique, a passionate re-framing of stories, and a call to action for change.
246 pages, Kindle Edition
First published May 22, 2012
46 people are currently reading
3910 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 28 of 28 reviews
May 17, 2013
This book was a great follow-up after reading The New Jim Crow, since Michelle Alexander provides a broader historical view of how the current prison industrial complex came to be. Dr. Richie delves into the reasons and motives behind why the criminal justice system and social services are clearly not set up for Black women, but can also serve to further cause violence and criminalization.
I could draw significant parallels between the Southern Strategy (described in the New Jim Crow) and the efforts of "mainstream" (white) feminists to become more credible. Yet again, the divide-and-conquer technique was very successful in stripping the teeth from radical movements.
Speaking as a white feminist interested in violence prevention, here's my personal take-away after reading the book: Hey white women, let's get it together. We don't leave people behind. No excuses.
I could draw significant parallels between the Southern Strategy (described in the New Jim Crow) and the efforts of "mainstream" (white) feminists to become more credible. Yet again, the divide-and-conquer technique was very successful in stripping the teeth from radical movements.
Speaking as a white feminist interested in violence prevention, here's my personal take-away after reading the book: Hey white women, let's get it together. We don't leave people behind. No excuses.
July 7, 2014
I'd love to know how Beth Richie researched and wrote however many drafts of this book without succumbing to the urge to bury her head under a pillow & never come out. The examples she gives of interpersonal and institutional violence against Black women are painful, hopefully spurring readers to connect the dots (and not view them as separate incidents that are not part of a larger whole) as well as to action.
June 24, 2017
This text is a much needed critical intervention into feminist theoretical debates on the prison industrial complex, sexual and domestic violence, and intersectionality. Richie brings a powerful Black Feminist analytical lens to bear on the pressing issue of male violence against Black women in the context of the buildup of what she calls a "prison nation." Critical of both the mainstream anti-violence movements' depoliticization collaboration with a racist state and racial justice/anti-prison activism that ignores and silences the gender violence experienced by Black women, Richie offers an incisive analysis and a powerful alternative vision.
From a theoretical standpoint, Richie's book should be read against mainstream (white) queer and feminist theorists who minimize the continuing problem of gender-based violence and the importance of intersectionality in their possibly well-intentioned but poorly executed critiques of the carceral state. Here, I am thinking of critics such as Wendy Brown (States of Injury), Laura Kipnis (Unwanted Advances), Sarah Schulman (Conflict is Not Abuse), and Janet Halley (Spilt Decisions). Each of these authors, rather than foregrounding the scholarship and activism of women of color, insists on producing their own sui generis analyses. Unsurprisingly, they each fall far short of what Richie accomplishes here. Save yourself some time, and read Richie instead of any of the authors noted above.
From a theoretical standpoint, Richie's book should be read against mainstream (white) queer and feminist theorists who minimize the continuing problem of gender-based violence and the importance of intersectionality in their possibly well-intentioned but poorly executed critiques of the carceral state. Here, I am thinking of critics such as Wendy Brown (States of Injury), Laura Kipnis (Unwanted Advances), Sarah Schulman (Conflict is Not Abuse), and Janet Halley (Spilt Decisions). Each of these authors, rather than foregrounding the scholarship and activism of women of color, insists on producing their own sui generis analyses. Unsurprisingly, they each fall far short of what Richie accomplishes here. Save yourself some time, and read Richie instead of any of the authors noted above.
June 22, 2020
Seconding another review, this is a powerful follow up read to The New Jim Crow. An intersectional analysis on individual and institutional violence against Black women in the context of what Richie calls "the buildup of the prison nation". I found the violence matrix very useful in understanding how Black women experience multiple forms of male violence simultaneously. As white feminism and anti-violence movements have sought for mainstream credibility within the flawed system of white patriarchal power, and at the expense of radical social change, this text reminds us that violence against women must be understood from within the context of race, class, and gender to be able to protect the most vulnerable.
May 31, 2018
I was fortunate to take a class taught by Dr. Richie at UIC in undergrad. Like that class, this book was incredible, painful, and highly fucking necessary. It forced me to take a long, hard look inside myself and how my privilege reinforces violence upon other women. I'm still digesting, still angry, still looking for ways to change.
December 14, 2012
Beth Richie is drop dead brilliant and this book is a must read for anyone who cares about domestic violence or women of color.
March 24, 2024
This book took forever to finish because the material is very dense, the topic is very serious, and the writing is heavily academic. All that said, it was well researched and organized, and it was an important book to read, outdated as it may be. There are some solid recommendations for change at the end, but they are unfortunately also antithetical to the current political interests of the people in power, including the liberals. So it’s sad for me to think that it could take another century before we see any noticeable improvement toward the safety of Black women and the reinstitution of Black men, Black communities, and Black security. 😢
May 25, 2023
Really great work linking a Black Feminist analysis of male violence with an analysis of American carcerality. Ritchie persuasively critiques the white feminist movement within America, arguing that its analysis rhetorically overemphasized that "everywoman" is potentially a victim of patriarchal/male violence. Unfortunately as Ritchie shows within the historical record, it is precisely this "everywoman" rhetorical strategy and it's implementation in policy that fell into an analytical vacuum unable to incorporate analyses of race and class. This vacuum led to the "erasure from the dominant view of the victimization of lesbians, women of color in low income communities, and other marginalized groups. State violence and harmful public policies also could not fit into the everywoman analytical paradigm that focused on individual men." Not only did the white feminist movement fail to account for the particularities of race and class and the ways these particularities effect violence on women- it also linked its project to state directed responses to violence rooted in carcerality/prisons/law and order. This over reliance on legislation and legal prosecutorial responses to male violence went hand in with the build up of Americas prisons and precluded the development of a sustained critique of the State's role in causing, complicating, or being complicit in male violence against Black women. A really phenomenal work.
January 7, 2014
For someone studying sociology this is a must read. It covers the intersection of race, sexual orientation, and gender. A truly good honest assessment. Very hard to read though
November 27, 2018
In Arrested Justice, Beth E. Ritchie exposes how the current criminal justice response to violence against women disadvantages and criminalizes Black women under the guise of protecting women through an expansion of what Ritchie calls “a prison nation” (3). This prison nation, she argues, is built through the divestment of disadvantaged communities, the co-optation of strategies of resistance, and the criminalization of Black women.
Ritchie shows how Black women are particularly vulnerable to targeted violence because of a pressure to maintain racial solidarity; when Black women experience violence from a Black partner, she is encouraged not to seek help due to what Ritchie calls “the trap of loyalty” under which Black women are expected to protect Black men from racial criminalization. Not only are these women discouraged from seeking help, but they are often not taken seriously when they do.
Ritchie’s “male violence matrix” shows instead how Black women are more vulnerable to violence not through any fault of their own but because of the various types of abuses they are exposed to in multiple contexts—violence committed by members of their households, members of their communities, and the state and government agencies; furthermore, Ritchie explains how women have an intersectional relationship to violence in which different components of a woman’s identity intersect in ways that make her uniquely vulnerable.
Ritchie argues that the key to positive change in the antiviolence movement is in the “everyday acts of resistance” that gradually break down the white male-dominated conservative system the antiviolence movement becomes in the attempt of becoming palatable to the mainstream (22). She argues instead for a Black feminist theoretical approach which centralizes black women’s experience, acknowledges interlocking oppressions, challenges damaging dialectical images of Black women, and uses a combination of everyday knowledge and scholarship to provide services and promote and facilitate activism.
The sheer amount and gravity of the examples and data Ritchie uses demonstrate how legal reforms have not been useful in preventing violence against Black women and have actually aggravated the problem. Her use of data seems radical in itself, as she acknowledges that white patriarchy often uses data to prove how racial minorities are inherently more criminal than their white counterparts. Her use and interpretation of data to support her argument becomes a challenge to dominant systems that would use the same data against her.
Ritchie makes an important contribution in showing how activist movements can become warped by conservative interests and seduced by the promises of legal reform; she forces readers to question if and for whom the current criminal “justice” system provides any actual justice.
Ritchie shows how Black women are particularly vulnerable to targeted violence because of a pressure to maintain racial solidarity; when Black women experience violence from a Black partner, she is encouraged not to seek help due to what Ritchie calls “the trap of loyalty” under which Black women are expected to protect Black men from racial criminalization. Not only are these women discouraged from seeking help, but they are often not taken seriously when they do.
Ritchie’s “male violence matrix” shows instead how Black women are more vulnerable to violence not through any fault of their own but because of the various types of abuses they are exposed to in multiple contexts—violence committed by members of their households, members of their communities, and the state and government agencies; furthermore, Ritchie explains how women have an intersectional relationship to violence in which different components of a woman’s identity intersect in ways that make her uniquely vulnerable.
Ritchie argues that the key to positive change in the antiviolence movement is in the “everyday acts of resistance” that gradually break down the white male-dominated conservative system the antiviolence movement becomes in the attempt of becoming palatable to the mainstream (22). She argues instead for a Black feminist theoretical approach which centralizes black women’s experience, acknowledges interlocking oppressions, challenges damaging dialectical images of Black women, and uses a combination of everyday knowledge and scholarship to provide services and promote and facilitate activism.
The sheer amount and gravity of the examples and data Ritchie uses demonstrate how legal reforms have not been useful in preventing violence against Black women and have actually aggravated the problem. Her use of data seems radical in itself, as she acknowledges that white patriarchy often uses data to prove how racial minorities are inherently more criminal than their white counterparts. Her use and interpretation of data to support her argument becomes a challenge to dominant systems that would use the same data against her.
Ritchie makes an important contribution in showing how activist movements can become warped by conservative interests and seduced by the promises of legal reform; she forces readers to question if and for whom the current criminal “justice” system provides any actual justice.
March 3, 2022
Arrested Justice: Black Women, Violence and America's Prison Nation by Beth E. Richie
Arrested Justice is an informing and stark read, published in 2012, it looks at the treatment and villification of black women by the criminal justice and penal system in America.
This book highlighted cases such as the New Jersey Four, which is about 4/7 black queer women who were tried and convincted of assaulting a straight man after he assaulted them which I hadn't heard about. It also brought to light the injustices surrounding young motherhood, abortion, abandonment of children etc and the forces that drive women to make desperate decisions. How many young black women end up in violent relationships, how men use power against them to force them into illegal trafficking of drugs and they get ultimately convincted and more.
The book also looks at some of the movements to combat violence against women, the rise of black feminist thought and makes reference to the work being done.
I listened to the audiobook which I will say I'm not sure if this helped my experience as the book is split into five sections and the audiobook basically has hour long sections (and is only five hours in length) so it felt quite difficult to naturally take a break from listening to this book. There's also a lot of facts and information so I think it would be good to return to in paper format to look up further aspects.
I will also say, the book does (despite being very short) feel quite academic in tone and language in places which makes me feel like it's not the most accessible or engaging of reads for those that don't read a lot of non-fiction.
However, I don't think you should let these things put you off, as there's a lot of great information here and it's an important conversation starter on a heavy and underrepresented topic!
Arrested Justice is an informing and stark read, published in 2012, it looks at the treatment and villification of black women by the criminal justice and penal system in America.
This book highlighted cases such as the New Jersey Four, which is about 4/7 black queer women who were tried and convincted of assaulting a straight man after he assaulted them which I hadn't heard about. It also brought to light the injustices surrounding young motherhood, abortion, abandonment of children etc and the forces that drive women to make desperate decisions. How many young black women end up in violent relationships, how men use power against them to force them into illegal trafficking of drugs and they get ultimately convincted and more.
The book also looks at some of the movements to combat violence against women, the rise of black feminist thought and makes reference to the work being done.
I listened to the audiobook which I will say I'm not sure if this helped my experience as the book is split into five sections and the audiobook basically has hour long sections (and is only five hours in length) so it felt quite difficult to naturally take a break from listening to this book. There's also a lot of facts and information so I think it would be good to return to in paper format to look up further aspects.
I will also say, the book does (despite being very short) feel quite academic in tone and language in places which makes me feel like it's not the most accessible or engaging of reads for those that don't read a lot of non-fiction.
However, I don't think you should let these things put you off, as there's a lot of great information here and it's an important conversation starter on a heavy and underrepresented topic!
May 31, 2022
I thought it was an informative read. The beginning narration of Ms B., New Jersey 4, and other narratives interwoven were engaging and sobering as it reminds us that we can give data and statistics about how the criminal "justice" system disproportionately criminalizes and punishes Black women, and the ramifications are also severe and life-altering. We have to remind ourselves of the human aspects of punishment.
The book was also written during Obama's presidency, so a lot has to be said and told about the last 2-3 years since 2020 and the racial uprisings, calls to abolish the police, decriminalize people of color for being people of color, immigrants for being immigrants, and so forth.
There was a lot on movement work between the 1960s and 1980s and I suppose the 1990s was when movements became less movements and more about institutional change from within institutions, changing the system within the system type of work. Still, I think we do ourselves a disservice by not talking about movement leaders in the 1990s, 2000s, and 2010s. We were still organizing, just maybe not the same ways as movement was organizing in the 1960s-1980s.
I would recommend as it did cover a broad spectrum of work, theory, and history lessons. But I wish there was more to it as well and it went more in depth about solutions.
The book was also written during Obama's presidency, so a lot has to be said and told about the last 2-3 years since 2020 and the racial uprisings, calls to abolish the police, decriminalize people of color for being people of color, immigrants for being immigrants, and so forth.
There was a lot on movement work between the 1960s and 1980s and I suppose the 1990s was when movements became less movements and more about institutional change from within institutions, changing the system within the system type of work. Still, I think we do ourselves a disservice by not talking about movement leaders in the 1990s, 2000s, and 2010s. We were still organizing, just maybe not the same ways as movement was organizing in the 1960s-1980s.
I would recommend as it did cover a broad spectrum of work, theory, and history lessons. But I wish there was more to it as well and it went more in depth about solutions.
August 22, 2020
This book by Beth E. Richie makes it easier to see the blind spots in anti-violence movements and the antiracist movements of our current reality. An intersectional analysis of class,race,sexuality and gender is needed in order to see the systemic injustice done to marginalized women. It was also interesting to see how, in order to gain legitimacy, feminist anti-violence movements played into the acceptance of conservative policies and criminalization of non-normative behavior. Yes it can happen to any women but the conditions for some women are much worse when it comes to vulnerability to violence. More love is needed for women on the periphery: black, queer, poor women, teenage moms, incarcerated women.
January 30, 2024
Overall, this book did a great job of threading together ideas I have learned in isolation. It has a lot of important points on how the struggles Black women face are complex and interconnected, and how dismantling the American prison nation as well as more grassroots efforts can give us a better chance at lasting change, than by hoping for government reform. While I do always wish that there were more examples given as to what those grassroots efforts can look like, I as a white cis person can look to Black feminist leaders and read more Black feminist based writings (there was a good chunk of them suggested in Chapter 5 that I've written down.)
January 3, 2018
Richie puts forth a compelling argument for how a black feminist violence matrix can portray violence perpetuated by the state as an additional intersectional layer that is largely ignored by within this Prison nation. Can be used to understand situations beyond those of black women —of domestic violence occurring in a community fearful of ICE, for example. Incredibly poignant and hard-hitting.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 24, 2020
The in-depth, intersectional analysis of violence against black women was incredibly eye opening. This book, within itself, is such a great reference for understand how race, class, sexuality and gender all impact black women’s existence but also provides statistics and references other pieces that should be on everyone’s to-read list.
May 22, 2018
Amazing and eye opening analysis of the development of the anti-gender violence movement and its capitulation to racist, capitalist build up of mass incarceration. A must read and engaging argument for the need of Black feminism and intersectionality.
June 2, 2021
I have been slowly making my way through this book over the past year, picking it up and putting it down off and on. That was the best way for me to handle Richie's brilliant and dense prose. But this should be a must-read for anyone doing anti-violence work, even if you take your time.
June 28, 2017
4.5 stars.
Want to read
September 21, 2020Recommended by Angela Davis in "Freedom Is a Constant Struggle: Ferguson, Palestine, and the Foundations of a Movement."
January 15, 2021
Amazing. Critical read for literally anyone but especially folks working around criminal justice, economic justice, anti-sexual and domestic violence, gender and racial violence
May 20, 2023
Extremely important book for understanding why the anti-violence movement has failed to end IPV and serve all survivors, with carefully reasoned recommendations for improvement.
February 23, 2017
Wow. Beth E. Richie really hit the nail on the head with this book. The analysis and inclusion of race, class, gender and the neoliberal, capitalist system that we exist in and how it relates to Black women with that is spot-on. There were so many points were I was nodding my head vigorously in agreement with the analysis is too many to count. There are so many great facts and analyses in this book that it could be required analysis for things beyond what's covered here, the analysis can be applied to so many things. This is a book that I am going to buy and keep on my shelf because there's so much information within that I want to reference and come to as a jumping off point for what to read next. The stories of the women aggregated in this book, Ms. B, Tanya and The New Jersey 4 are truly heartbreaking and for 2/3 of the stories were new to me. I remember the story about Tanya and throwing her baby away when it happened because I lived in Chicago at the time, but this book made me think back about what I heard at the time and how I felt. How did the media portray this story? I was saddened that I hadn't even heard of the abuse that the other two stories detailed because those were marginalized women (older/living in public housing and queer women in a newly gentrified community) from disadvantaged places so of course the public couldn't care about them - they didn't fit the narrative of whose story deserves to be told and women who deserve justice. This was a hard book to get through not because of how it was written or the stories within, but because it gave me so much to think about and connect to the larger structural failings of our societies. It's not a long or difficult read so I definitely suggest this for anyone who is looking to understand how black women exist and persist in America's prison nation.
June 3, 2020
The book dismantles how anti-violence campaigns against women have come to disenfranchise Black women. The initial women's movement that enabled domestic and sexual violence to be taken into account within the legal sphere set limits on the types of gendered violence that has come to be deemed as worthy of attention. The types of violence Black women undergo is not part of the typical narrative on how women are abused by their loved ones, in conjunction with the functioning's of state authorities.
Quotes:
Like most vulnerable young women of color, these young women did not turn to formal systems as a remedy for their victimization because of the strong distrust of the criminal legal system in their disadvantaged communities. There was no official documentation of their victimization and no references in public records to the broader context of their lives.
Political dynamics of a prison nation interact with racial and other stigmas in such a way that women of color are more likely to be treated as criminals than as victims when they are abused.
How is it that the representations found in local or national campaigns against police brutality seldom depict women as victims?
That Black women fall further from the hegemonic norms of womanhood results in a disproportionate number of them not fitting into the narrowly accepted definition of who a battered woman is or who her domestic partner abuses.
White feminist leaders "were gradually replaced by more formal organizations that advocated institutional reform rather than fundamental shifts in power relations."
From this conservative academic perspective, poor women who are raped, lesbians who are harassed, and battered women who break the law are understood as 'troubling cases' or 'isolated incidences' rather than social phenomena related to forms of structural inequality that extend beyond gender.
"Everywoman analysis" : "has in fact become almost dangerous insofar as it detracts from the development of a broad social justice analysis of violence against women that might emerge from a contextualized understanding."
"Unlike other eras, the goal of the legislation, public policy, and intervention developed during the buildup of America's prison nation is to procure and distribute benefits to those women who are important to people in power in order to maintain the status quo rather than to prevent or remedy the range of social problems associated with male violence for those who are most socially isolated, economically disadvantaged, or politically powerless."
Quotes:
Like most vulnerable young women of color, these young women did not turn to formal systems as a remedy for their victimization because of the strong distrust of the criminal legal system in their disadvantaged communities. There was no official documentation of their victimization and no references in public records to the broader context of their lives.
Political dynamics of a prison nation interact with racial and other stigmas in such a way that women of color are more likely to be treated as criminals than as victims when they are abused.
How is it that the representations found in local or national campaigns against police brutality seldom depict women as victims?
That Black women fall further from the hegemonic norms of womanhood results in a disproportionate number of them not fitting into the narrowly accepted definition of who a battered woman is or who her domestic partner abuses.
White feminist leaders "were gradually replaced by more formal organizations that advocated institutional reform rather than fundamental shifts in power relations."
From this conservative academic perspective, poor women who are raped, lesbians who are harassed, and battered women who break the law are understood as 'troubling cases' or 'isolated incidences' rather than social phenomena related to forms of structural inequality that extend beyond gender.
"Everywoman analysis" : "has in fact become almost dangerous insofar as it detracts from the development of a broad social justice analysis of violence against women that might emerge from a contextualized understanding."
"Unlike other eras, the goal of the legislation, public policy, and intervention developed during the buildup of America's prison nation is to procure and distribute benefits to those women who are important to people in power in order to maintain the status quo rather than to prevent or remedy the range of social problems associated with male violence for those who are most socially isolated, economically disadvantaged, or politically powerless."
September 23, 2019
Such an important book. Black women are the demographic most affected by the prison nation, yet are the least mentioned. This book doesn’t simply mention the horrors black women endure from every aspect of the prison nation, but it centers it. Necessary read.
August 27, 2014
Richie's work is just excellent and thoughtful scholarly exploration of the impact mass incarceration, violence, gender, and race in the lives of Black women. Richie offers some of the best explications of violence data and Black feminist theory that I have read. I highly recommend this book not only for scholars but also for teaching undergraduates. It is solid and very readable.
May 10, 2018
important read highlighting an often overlooked population through a Black Feminist Theory lens, including intersectionality/interlocking oppression that is often neglected in mainstream nonprofit and government helping agencies. the book details how the anti-violence movement became institutionalized and therefore lost its radical and inclusive roots.
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March 15, 2013362.8292 R531 2012
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