‘You Don’t Know How Long 11 Minutes Is’: What People Don’t Know About Domestic Violence

Angela Carpenter is a municipal court judge in Vicksburg, Mississippi. Twice a month on Tuesday afternoons, she presides over domestic violence court. She doesn’t want members of the public, who might be called to serve on juries or grand juries, to dismiss domestic violence cases with a shrug: Why didn’t she just leave??

Perspective, Story Behind The StoryKatherine MitchellNovember 9, 2021VAWA, Violence against women act, Women leaving, abused women, battered women, shelters, Judge Angela Carpenter, Domestic violence, Domestic violence awareness month, Beverly Prentiss Domestic Violence Victim Empowerment Program, Vicksburg

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

A Clergyman Who Spoke the Words ’Domestic Violence’ Publicly

On the Mississippi Gulf Coast, Stacey Riley is CEO of the Gulf Coast Center for NonViolence Inc. The nonprofit center is the largest program for victims of domestic violence in Mississippi: It runs a shelter in Biloxi, which houses up to 44, and another in Pascagoula with 16 beds.