The Marshall Project found nearly 100 people who were punished for the actions of their abusers under little-known laws like “accomplice liability.”
✍️: Shannon Heffernan; 🎥: Heffernan & Chris Vazquez / The Marshall Project
Transcript:
SHANNON HEFFERNAN: There are laws on the books in every U.S. state that can punish domestic violence survivors for their abusers’ crimes. Prosecutors can use accomplice liability laws to charge a person for a crime they didn’t commit if they helped the person who did, including domestic violence survivors who only helped because they were forced. I found almost 100 people who were charged for assisting, supporting or failing to stop the crimes of their abuser. One of the people convicted is Pat Johnson. He’s a trans man who asked me to use she/her pronouns when talking about his life before he came out in prison. In the ’90s, Johnson testified that her abuser, Ray Travieso, pointed the gun at her before killing three other people. She was certain she’d be next. So when Travieso told her to help steal money and jewelry, she listened. There’s no clear physical evidence for how much Johnson participated in the killings, but Travieso told me in a message that Johnson should have never been in prison. Advocates in some states are trying to limit the scope of laws like the ones used to prosecute Johnson and change how survivors are sentenced in general.
Негізгі бет Why domestic violence survivors go to prison for abusers’ crimes
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