Posts tagged crime victims

Paralyzed by Grief: After Pheonecia Ratliff’s Murder and Jamarquis Black’s Suicide

The night of May 14, 2020, in Canton, Jamarquis Black, 24, kidnapped his estranged girlfriend, Pheonecia Ratliff, 23. They had quarreled because he wanted custody of their baby daughter, Jordyn, barely 6 months old. Phoenicia had reported Jarmarquis’ stalking and threats to the police; he had been arrested, but bailed out of jail on May 11.

Perspective, Story Behind The StoryKatherine MitchellMarch 1, 2022abused women, battered women, crime victims, domestic violence, murder/suicide, Pheonecia Ratliff, Jamarquis Black, Jordyn, Suzanne Ratliff, custody, guardianship, Nesbit, Elizabeth Black Wooten, trauma

Stuck in the Senate with the Violence Against Women Act, a bill that would help domestic violence victims

“When I knew I had to leave,” Victoria told me, “I only had my two kids. No money. No place to go.” Victoria is not the real name of a woman in her early 30s, a native Mississippian who had left an abusive partner.

Perspective, Story Behind The StoryKatherine MitchellJune 29, 2021VAWA, Violence against women act, Biden, Women leaving, abused women, battered women, shelters, crime victims, VOCA, senate, house, Chuck Shumer, Dick Durbin, Crime Victims Fund Act, Pat Toomey