SecondEven if a person does not directly commit a crime, they can still be sent to prison for it.
Every U.S. state has a version of “accomplice liability,” laws that allow a person to be punished for assisting or supporting another person's crime, in some cases, even if that participation is threatened with violence.
A recent investigation by The Marshall Project found that survivors of domestic and sexual violence are particularly vulnerable to prosecution under these laws because their abusers exert control over them.
A review of court documents found nearly 100 cases in which prosecutors accused someone, nearly all women, of supporting, participating in, or failing to stop an alleged abuser's criminal conduct. The cases include a woman who was jailed after her boyfriend severely assaulted her child, even though she was not home at the time. In another example, a woman helped her abuser sell stolen goods after a murder, she said, because she feared he would kill her.
Here are five takeaways from our investigation into how these laws punish survivors of domestic and gender-based violence.
1. There are no comprehensive data on how many survivors are incarcerated for crimes committed by their abusers, but some studies suggest it is an important issue.
A study of 72 women serving time in Michigan prisons found that 60 percent were incarcerated for murder they have no promises. Most of the crimes were linked to a man they had a relationship with. In another investigation into people serving time in women's prisons for murder or manslaughter, 13% of respondents said they had been convicted of a crime with their abuser.
The Marshall Project reviewed court documents and found nearly 100 cases in which abusers were punished for their crimes. This is likely only a small fraction of the existing cases.
2. Evidence of abuse is sometimes excluded from trials; sometimes it is used against women.
In some states, it does not matter legally if a person aids in a murder because he was threatened with death or feared physical violence. Therefore, evidence of domestic abuse may not be considered relevant.
In other cases, a survivor's history of abuse may be used to justify their punishment. For example, prosecutors in Tulsa County, Oklahoma, pointed to evidence that a woman's boyfriend had choked her before, arguing that she should have known better than to let him near the baby. She admitted failing to protect her child after he severely assaulted her child. Now she is serving a 20-year sentence.
Rachel White-Domain, an Illinois attorney who represents incarcerated survivors, estimates that about a quarter of the cases she currently handles involve people charged under accomplice liability or similar laws. She believes these cases receive less attention because they are harder to explain to the public.
4. Some states have passed laws allowing survivors of domestic violence to present evidence of abuse in order to have their sentences modified. But many people charged under accomplice liability laws are excluded.
For example, in 2015, Illinois passed a law that allows people in prison to apply for resentencing if their crimes meet the following criteria: Directly related to domestic violence. The state does not track the number of people released from prison early under Illinois law, but the number is far lower than many advocates for domestic violence victims had hoped. One reason is that the law does not specify whether judges can deviate from mandatory minimum standards.
So even if a person provides evidence that they were coerced into participating in a crime by an abusive partner, a judge has ruled that the law cannot help them if they are serving a mandatory minimum sentence.
5. People who are sex trafficked by an abusive partner can easily be prosecuted for assisting a crime, even if their involvement is minimal.
A man who “savagely beat” a developmentally delayed girl who was sex trafficked at age 17 was found in a sentencing memorandum. But federal prosecutors in Washington state charged her as a co-defendant in his human trafficking ring because she helped him stockpile guns and drugs. She agreed to a plea deal when she was 19 and was released in 2009 but had to serve a year of supervised release.
In a separate case, Ajela Banks was convicted in federal court of conspiring to sex traffic a minor in Alaska, even though she was 19 at the time and was trafficked by the same man as her co-defendant . He recently shot her in the abdomen while she was pregnant with his child, according to court documents. Although she was sentenced to serve time, she was required to register as a sex offender and her home address was made public, which she said left her vulnerable to further harassment and threats.
LLawyers and survivor advocates say there are two ways to approach the problem. The first is to limit accomplice liability so that fewer people are charged for taking advantage of these laws. A bill that would have done just that failed to gain traction in the Illinois Legislature last year, but activists from groups like Restoring Justice say they are continuing drive change.
Another approach some states are taking is to reconsider how domestic violence victims are sentenced. new york Domestic Violence Survivors Justice ActPassed in 2019, allows judges to deviate from mandatory minimum standards when sentencing (or re-sentencing)survivor. according to Survivor Justice ProjectAn organization dedicated to freeing victims of domestic violence from prison has had 64 people re-indicted in New York after filing petitions.