Recovering Carceral Feminist-Ask Me How!
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leighgoodmark.bsky.social
Recovering Carceral Feminist-Ask Me How!
@leighgoodmark.bsky.social
Professor at Maryland Carey Law, director of Gender, Prison, and Trauma Clinic, author of Imperfect Victims: Criminalized Survivors and the Promise of Abolition Feminism and Decriminalizing Domestic Violence (UC Press). She/her/mom. leighgoodmark.com
Pinned
The criminal legal system is the primary response to gender-based violence in the US, but victims of violence who don’t conform to stereotypes about “perfect” victims are punished harshly by that system every day-come for the anger-inducing stories, stay for the abolition feminism.
One of the highlights of being associate dean for research at Maryland Carey Law is welcoming scholars from across the country (including @ahoagfordjour.bsky.social, @profshirleylin.bsky.social, and @susanmcmahon.bsky.social). Looking forward to this semester's Legal Theory Workshops!
January 12, 2026 at 6:19 PM
Kim Hricko, @kwanetaharris.bsky.social, and I discuss the impact of true crime on criminalized survivors (spoiler: it's devastating) in "The True Harms of True Crime." Find it here: wjlgs.law.wisc.edu/2026/volume-.... Special thanks to @rlopez.bsky.social, who is the godmother of this piece.
Volume XL, No. 1 – Spring 2025
Articles “The True Harms of True Crime” by Leigh Goodmark, Kim Hricko, and Kwaneta Harris “Undocumented Eldercare, LLC” by Kit Johnson “Creatively Concealed but Still Persistently Pervasive: Racial St...
wjlgs.law.wisc.edu
January 9, 2026 at 6:38 PM
I mean, I expected this result. Economic security decreases intimate partner violence. Give money to the people that need it-not to police and prisons. #AbolitionFeminismNow
Federal EITC Has Unexpected Result, Researchers Say – It Decreases Domestic Violence - UConn Today
'Even if you don’t care about the human value of reducing this, there are efficiency gains in handling it more effectively - and I think most of us do ...
today.uconn.edu
December 23, 2025 at 1:20 AM
This doesn’t bode well.
December 19, 2025 at 7:24 PM
If I were supreme ruler of all things lexical (a word I just looked up), I would outlaw the use of the word "unfortunately." I have spoken.
December 17, 2025 at 4:40 PM
Preventing harm before it happens, providing safe and non-judgmental spaces in which people who are considering harm can get help without requiring them to be criminalized--this is exactly the kind of thing we should be doing, and House of Ruth is doing it in Maryland.
A New Domestic Violence Hotline Aims to Stop People From Doing Harm
“Being able to talk someone off the ledge, I think it would prevent a lot of cases like mine,” one man said.
truthout.org
December 15, 2025 at 3:29 PM
Today this is a baking account. Chunky Lola cookies (Flour Bakery recipe), chocolate peppermint brownie cookies, and eggnog snickerdoodles (@nytimes.com). Snow outside, cookies inside.
December 14, 2025 at 5:13 PM
I’ve been doing this for more than 30 years, and if I ever stop being nervous before I walk into court, I’ll know it’s time to stop.
December 12, 2025 at 2:04 PM
Today's fun fact: if "blue" "progressive" Maryland was a country, we would incarcerate more women per capita than 153 countries, including Canada, China, Argentina, and Venezuela, and would be tied with the Russian Federation. #TheMoreYouKnow www.prisonpolicy.org/global/women...
States of Women's Incarceration: The Global Context 2025
Women's incarceration in every region of the United States is out of step with the rest of the world.
www.prisonpolicy.org
December 11, 2025 at 9:02 PM
As a pragmatic abolitionist, I'll use any tool I can to get people out of prison. But laws decreasing sentences for/allowing for resentencing of criminalized survivors are not everything we need to prevent injustice. We need for survivors not to be prosecuted at all. Mine @truthout.org.
New Pennsylvania Law Seeks to Aid Abuse Survivors Who Resist — But Is It Enough?
Laws to help “criminalized survivors” who fight back against their abusers often merely reduce their prison time.
truthout.org
December 5, 2025 at 1:24 AM
Think about this program for Giving Tuesday.
This Program Gives Direct Cash Support to Incarcerated Women
The Community Love Fund is a guaranteed income program built and run by abolitionist women.
truthout.org
December 1, 2025 at 2:57 PM
So far during the parade, my kids have booed the NYPD, asked why we continue to glorify the (whiteness of the) 50s, and talked about union busting during a Starbucks commercial. The kids are all right.
November 27, 2025 at 2:47 PM
One of my clients died yesterday. She was an absolutely lovely woman, full of faith and joy and light. She cared deeply about the people around her. She was a source of encouragement and support to the women she was incarcerated with. She was 51 years old and had spent 28 years in prison.
November 11, 2025 at 3:57 PM
To the guy spotted reading Imperfect Victims on the B train last week: I can’t tell you how much I appreciate it. And I hope they liked the flowers. ❤️
November 6, 2025 at 12:42 AM
Reposted by Recovering Carceral Feminist-Ask Me How!
This is news to me, a Jew who doesn't feel like I have lost anything because of Zohran's victory.

My goodness. Imagine showing everyone how much your brain is just absolutely pickled in fear and bigotry.
Bari Weiss's website is being about as normal as I expected
www.thefp.com/p/mamdanis-r...
November 5, 2025 at 5:05 PM
Reposted by Recovering Carceral Feminist-Ask Me How!
The ideas underlying socialism are hardly toxic. Inclusion, community, compassion, opportunity, effective governance are all fundamental, widely embraced. The term socialism itself has been cynically stigmatized. But with a little good sense, we can move past that and focus on values & results.
November 5, 2025 at 11:07 AM
It’s been so long since there was good news that I forgot you could scroll and smile at the same time.
November 5, 2025 at 2:30 AM
Reposted by Recovering Carceral Feminist-Ask Me How!
study after study after study shows that literally just handing people money and telling them "do what you want with this" reduces homelessness, increases food security for children, makes it more likely people will find and retain jobs.1
November 2, 2025 at 10:31 PM
Blue sky.
October 29, 2025 at 1:38 AM
Getting COVID is terrible. Getting COVID in prison, as @victorialaw.bsky.social explores in her latest book, Corridors of Contagion, is still a potentially deadly nightmare. Read about it here: www.thenation.com/article/soci.... And get the book here: www.haymarketbooks.org/books/2447-c...
We’ve Entered the Gaslighting Phase of Covid in Prisons
Covid is spreading, but incarcerated people are being told vaccines aren’t necessary.
www.thenation.com
October 26, 2025 at 12:28 AM
So excited for Kim Hricko, whose essay is part of the "Inside the Prison Heat Crisis" series at The Jump Line. Read it here: thejumpline.substack.com/p/inside-the...
Inside the Prison Heat Crisis
Dispatches from Florida, Maryland, and Washington
thejumpline.substack.com
October 21, 2025 at 7:06 PM