A growing number of individuals have expressed support for U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos’ harmful Title IX proposed rules on sexual harassment, including sexual assault, in schools by pitting the rights of sexual assault survivors against efforts to further racial justice. By doing this, these individuals—often white, self-identified feminists or conservative men—erase the experiences
A highly-cited paper from the Georgetown Law Center on Poverty and Inequality, Human Rights Project for Girls and Ms. Foundation for Women titled “The Sexual Abuse to Prison Pipeline,” found “that in a perverse twist of justice, many girls who experience sexual abuse are routed into the juvenile justice system because of their victimization.” Authors
For many who watched the six-part documentary “Surviving R. Kelly,” hearing directly from several women who described sexual abuse at the hands of the R&B star prompted a troubling question: Has Kelly remained popular and largely not faced criminal consequences because his accusers are black? Rebecca Epstein, a researcher at Georgetown University, thinks so. She
In October 2018, the Georgetown Law Center on Poverty and Inequality’s Initiative on Gender Justice and Opportunity and Rights4Girls published a compilation of girls’ visual and written work about their experiences with the juvenile justice system. This project turned a lens toward the girls, providing space for them to speak for themselves and allowing their
A 2017 study from Georgetown Law (Girlhood Interrupted: The Erasure of Black Girls’ Childhood) reports that adults view black girls as less innocent and more adult-like than their white peers, especially in the age range of 5–14 (see graph). “We thought we might see two parallel lines and then an increase for black girls in
The voices of Flint girls are included in a new nationwide release by the Center on Poverty and Inequality at Georgetown University’s renowned Law Center. Published Oct. 25, “I am the Voice: Girls’ Reflections from Inside the Justice System” is a compilation of stories and feelings of girls from across the country. HerStory: Unlocked —
The need for long-term and specialized care to treat child sex-trafficking victims is increasing. For decades, rescued children wound up being arrested and thrown into the juvenile justice system. But that’s changed in recent years, as states have moved to steer victims toward treatment. Twenty-four states and the District of Columbia have eliminated criminal liability
Two Georgetown University pilot studies found that girls and young women [who had been through trauma and] who did yoga reported better self-esteem and developed skills that they could use in stressful situations — taking care of their own children, for example. A former student in juvenile hall spoke about the impact of yoga: “Most
Black girls are nearly four times more likely to be arrested at school than their white counterparts and Latina girls are almost three times more likely to be arrested in elementary school than white girls, a new report says. Researchers at the Georgetown Law Center on Poverty and Inequality and the National Black Women’s Justice
Researchers built in part on a 2014 report that concluded black boys are wrongly perceived as older than their actual age and are more likely to be viewed as guilty when they are suspected of a crime. The Georgetown study sought to determine whether there’s a similar effect for black girls—whether adults identify them as