Intersecting Injustice: Race, Gender, and the Criminalization of Women of Color in New York Family Court

This research explores how race and gender intersect to shape judicial decisions, defense strategies, and the criminalization of women of color in domestic violence cases in New York Family Court. Using intersectionality, critical race theory, feminist legal theory, and abolitionist frameworks, it examines how these factors influence rulings, sentencing, and courtroom dynamics, while analyzing how defense attorneys navigate clients' identities. The study addresses how language, culture, and law contribute to the victimization and criminalization of women, particularly given their marginalization within feminist and antiracist movements and stark racial disparities in U.S. prisons. It highlights how neighborhood segregation and economic inequality perpetuate cycles of poverty and incarceration, often overlooked in research on marginalized women. Neoliberal policies further punish women of color via the criminal justice and welfare systems, while systemic failures blame survivors of intimate partner violence and provide inadequate protection. The compounding effects of racism, financial hardship, and community stigma complicate access to safety, emphasizing the need to challenge state power and carceral logic.

A growing movement advocating non-criminalization emphasizes transformative justice, proposing new ways to address violence while challenging traditional legal structures. Law serves as a mechanism for social coordination, blending ethical beliefs with political authority. Crime is often viewed as individual failure, reinforcing social order and justifying punitive measures, including prison expansion. This focus on individual responsibility overlooks the collective role in creating conditions that lead to crime, prioritizing state control and obscuring systemic issues like poverty, inequality, and resource access. My research aims to highlight these systemic realities affecting marginalized communities, contributing to discussions on reform and abolitionist approaches within the Family Court system. By addressing the struggles faced by women of color, this study advocates for an intersectional understanding of justice and reimagined kinship.