March is National Women’s History Month! Women’s History Month serves as a time to honor the achievements and contributions of women advancing the fight for gender equality and justice for all.
But, it is also an occasion to acknowledge the work that still needs to be done to eliminate gender and racial disparities within the criminal justice system.
When it comes to incarceration and wrongful conviction, women face an array of unique challenges including: gender specific health needs, maternal and childcare responsibilities, higher rates of trauma and abuse, barriers to reentry, limited access to gender responsive programs, etc.
Women currently make up approximately 10% of the incarcerated population in the U.S., a number that is growing twice the rate of men’s incarceration in recent decades.
Still, their plight is often overlooked when it comes to discussions of mass incarceration.
To mark this important month, we are sharing 5 books ranging from stories of women who have survived wrongful conviction, as well as women who’ve become criminal justice advocates and women who have been impacted by the incarceration of a loved one. Check out the Montana Innocence Project’s Women’s History Month reading list below:
1. Manifesting Justice: Wrongly Convicted Women Reclaim Their Rights By: Valena E. Beety
“Manifesting Justice: Wrongly Convicted Women Reclaim Their Rights” provides an insider perspective to the failures of the criminal legal system in the U.S. Author and founder of the West Virginia Innocence Project Valena Beety, focuses on the story of her client Leigh Stubbs—a young, queer woman in Mississippi who because of her sexual orientation, was convicted of a crime she did not commit. Beety also delves into the broader perspective of the broken criminal justice system where disproportionate numbers of women of color and queer individuals are convicted due to issues of racism, prejudice, coerced confessions, and false identifications.
2. Until I Am Free: Fannie Lou Hamer’s Enduring Message to America By: Keisha Blain
Within the book “Until I Am Free: Fannie Lou Hamer’s Enduring Message to America,” award-winning historian and New York Times best-selling author Keisha N. Blain places Fannie Lou Hamer’s work as a civil rights advocate alongside leaders such as Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X, and Rosa Parks. Hamer was a working-poor and disabled Black woman activist of the civil rights movement who fought for addressing modern social issues including voter suppression, police violence, and economic inequality.
3. Somebody’s Daughter By: Ashley C. Ford
In her memoir “Somebody’s Daughter” Ashley Ford discusses the story of her childhood while grappling with the incarceration of her father and fraught relationship with her mother. The book reflects on the collective impact of the criminal legal system from the perspective of family, and sheds light on the challenges children face in the absence of a loved one.
4. Invisible No More: Police Violence Against Black Women and Women of Color By: Andrea Ritchie
“Invisible No More” reflects on the disproportionate effects that women of color experience through racial profiling, police brutality, and immigration enforcement. The author Andrea Ritchie discusses the individual stories of Sandra Bland, Rekia Boyd, Dajerria Becton, Monica Jones, and Mya Hall in the broader context of police violence and mass incarceration.
5. It Happened to Audrey: A Terrifying Journey From Loving Mom to Accused Baby Killer By: Jill Wellington, Audrey Edmunds
“It Happened to Audrey: A Terrifying Journey From Loving Mom to Accused Baby Killer” tells the story of Audrey Edmunds, a married, young mother of two from Waunakee, Wisconsin who worked out of her home as a family care provider for young children. Edmunds was convicted in 1996 of first-degree reckless homicide for the highly controversial Shaken Baby Syndrome of an infant in her care. She spent 11 years in prison for a crime she didn’t commit. With the help of the Wisconsin Innocence Project and new medical research that cast serious doubt on the legitimacy of Shaken Baby Syndrome, her conviction was overturned in 2008.
As we celebrate Women’s History Month, we hope you will remember to honor the 250+ women who have been exonerated in the U.S. over the last three decades, as well as the women who are still unjustly incarcerated for crimes that they did not commit.