November 3, 2025 • 37 mins
Black women are six times more likely to be murdered by intimate partners than white women. Let that sink in.
Dr. Miltonette Craig pulls back the curtain on this hidden crisis in our powerful conversation about intimate partner violence and media representation. As an assistant professor at Sam Houston State University and research coordinator for the Crime Victims Institute, Dr. Craig brings both academic rigor and genuine compassion to this critical discussion.
The statistics are staggering – approximately 43% of Black women report experiencing intimate partner violence compared to 30% of white women. But statistics only tell part of the story. Dr. Craig expertly unpacks the complex sociocultural factors creating this disparity: economic barriers that trap women in abusive relationships, the "loyalty trap" where Black women hesitate to report abuse for fear of contributing to mass incarceration, and deep-seated mistrust of law enforcement that discourages seeking help.
Perhaps most troubling is how media coverage perpetuates these problems. Through her groundbreaking research, Dr. Craig reveals how news stories about Black female victims often lack context, resources, and the critical analysis needed to understand this epidemic. We discuss a particularly disturbing case where two Black women were murdered by their husbands during conjugal visits at the same prison facility within months of each other – yet media coverage remained superficial and disconnected from the larger pattern of violence.
This episode isn't just about identifying problems – Dr. Craig offers concrete solutions for journalists, newsrooms, and media consumers. From including crisis resources in every domestic violence story to diversifying newsroom staff, these actionable steps could literally save lives.
Whether you work in media, advocacy, or simply care about creating a more just society, this conversation will transform how you understand intimate partner violence and the power of representation. Listen now, and join us in demanding better for Black women and all survivors of domestic violence.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Earlier this year, we met with presenters at the 2025
Conference on Crimes AgainstWomen in Dallas, texas.
In this episode, my guest, drMiltonette Craig, assistant
Professor of Criminal Justiceand Criminology and the Research
Coordinator for the CrimeVictims Institute at Sam Houston
State University, joins me todiscuss the elevated risk of
(00:20):
intimate partner violence toBlack women.
I'm Maria McMullin and this isGenesis, the podcast.
Intimate partner violenceoccurs at alarming rates in the
United States.
As recently as 2017, it wasestimated that three women are
murdered every day by intimatepartners in the US.
(00:43):
When we consider that blackwomen are six times more likely
to be murdered by an intimatepartner than white women, the
scenario becomes staggering.
And yet media coverage of theexperiences of Black women are
less often reported on, notalways accurately conveyed and
may or may not include thecontext of the elevated risk
posed to Black women by abusivepartners.
(01:04):
My guest, dr Miltonette Craig,is studying the media depictions
of black women's elevated riskof intimate partner violence and
joins us to help us understandhow media reports on IPV shapes
our opinions about both victimsand perpetrators and what can be
done to improve these aspectsof journalism.
Miltonette Olivia Craig is anassistant professor of criminal
(01:24):
justice and criminology and theresearch coordinator for the
Crimes Victims Institute at SamHouston State University.
Dr Craig completed her JD atGeorgia State University College
of Law and PhD in criminologyand criminal justice at Florida
State University.
Her research examinesintersectionality across
socio-legal institutions, suchas disparities in traffic stops,
(01:48):
use of force and communitysupervision outcomes.
Her work also uses anintersectional lens to examine
intimate partner violence andthe lived experiences of
system-involved individuals.
Her research has been publishedin peer-reviewed journals such
as Victims and Offenders, crimeand Delinquency, criminal
Justice and Behavior andPolicing, an international
(02:09):
journal.
She has contributed todiscussions on system reform and
police accountability in theChicago Tribune, houston
Chronicle, texas Standard andIllinois Public Radio.
Teaches undergraduate andgraduate courses, including
Fundamentals of Criminal Law,criminal Justice, ethics Seminar
in American Courts and LegalAspects of Criminal Justice.
(02:30):
Miltonette, welcome to the show.
Thanks for having me.
I'm so happy to be with youhere at the Conference on Crimes
Against Women 2025.
It's our 20th anniversary inDallas, texas.
Is this your first timepresenting?
Speaker 2 (02:43):
Yes, this is my first time presenting.
Speaker 1 (02:45):
It's so exciting.
Now you work at Sam HoustonState University with a special
focus on media depictions of theelevated risk for intimate
partner violence.
What led you to focus on thisparticular aspect of the IPV
experience?
Speaker 2 (03:00):
Yes, so in my master's program I read a very
fascinating book by Dr BethRitchie, who is a sociologist
and focuses on women's crimesand issues and victimization,
and the book is called Compelledto Crime.
I think came out in 96.
And she interviews women whoare incarcerated to understand
(03:22):
the trajectory that led them tobeing criminal justice system
involved and found that all ofthem had trauma and abuse in
their background and so thatkind of being compelled to crime
, and she created a frameworkcalled gender entrapment.
Basically, because ofsubjugation by virtue of gender
(03:43):
and class, they were pushed intoan environment and situations
where the only response thatthey had in their wheelhouse was
something that was, you know,defined as criminal, especially
those who were subjected todomestic violence or intimate
partner violence.
Speaker 1 (04:01):
Yeah, and I think what you're referring to in
those cases is where a victim ofdomestic violence injures or
fatally injures her domesticpartner due to the abuse or as a
result of the abuse.
Yeah, some of those, yeah, andthen is then incarcerated for
that, without the court's fullunderstanding of the background
(04:22):
of abuse.
And we do a little bit and I'mlike holding up a little smidge
of finger space here a littlebit better these days, because
that subject has really beenbrought out into the forefront
and we talk about it and educatecourts and judges and others
about that issue and I thinkthat there's a disproportionate
rate of Black women who havethat particular experience.
Speaker 2 (04:45):
Is that true?
Yes, and another part of it isyes.
There is the response in thatrelationship itself, but also
previous histories of abuseteaching you poor coping skills.
Sure that violence is theanswer, because it was always
the answer used against you inyour past.
Speaker 1 (05:04):
Yeah, absolutely.
That's an excellent point.
Now let's talk about the ratesof intimate partner violence for
Black women in the UnitedStates.
Help us understand the risklevels and incident rates for
that population.
Speaker 2 (05:17):
One of the estimates that I see most often in the
research shows that Black womenabout 43% of them have reported
that they've experiencedintimate partner violence in
their lifetime, and that wouldbe compared to just about 30% to
similarly situated white women,and so the Institute for
Women's Policy Researchpublished a report called the
(05:39):
Status of Black Women in the US.
I think it came out in 2017.
So they talk about thosestatistics.
There's another one, anempirical study from 2015 by
Sabina and Swatt, and theyshowed that Black women have the
highest rate of intimatepartner homicide right, the most
deadly form of IPV, a rate thatwas about 2.2, compared to 1.01
(06:05):
for Latinas and 0.83 for whitewomen.
Speaker 1 (06:10):
So all of that is to say, the risk is higher, the
incidence rate is higher and thefatality is higher for black
women, and yet the mediacoverage which is really what
we're going to focus on in thisconversation the media coverage
of these incidents for blackwomen is less than best.
(06:32):
It's less than it would be forother populations, more
particularly focused on whitewomen who go missing, and that's
another topic that has reallycome to the fore over the past
few years, and rightfully so,and the Black and Missing
Foundation has been working veryhard to make sure that that is
part of the conversation and toget more media coverage about
(06:55):
these disappearances of Blackwomen and men and children, as
well as murders of all people.
All people should have, thereshould be coverage, there should
be discussion, there should beinvestigation work.
Now, in September 2022, youauthored a publication titled
Special Topics Media Depictionsof Black Women's Elevated Risk
(07:16):
for Intimate Partner Violence,and you wrote about some of the
and this is a quotesocioeconomic and cultural
factors that contribute to theelevated risk.
What are those factors?
Speaker 2 (07:26):
Yes, and one thing before getting to that with the
disparities when we think aboutdisparities largely in society
and one group is overrepresented, we usually think that it makes
sense to target resourcestowards that group.
So it may be that, you know,teens are at a higher risk for X
(07:46):
, so let's now pull theresources because that group is
more prone to this type of harm.
And so that's generally theunderlying, I guess, foundation
of the research that I do andthe work that others do as well.
It's about well, if we knowthat one group is in need of
resources because of this, thenlet's figure out how to address
(08:11):
that, and that's why thesociocultural aspect comes in
there, so kind of a segue there.
So in the report I talk aboutone of the things having to do
with income and impoverishment.
So, because of our history inthe US with systemic
discrimination, it is going tobe more likely that those who
are members of marginalizedgroups are going to have less
(08:34):
access to financial resources,whether that is from legitimate
employment, right being able toget from an abusive relationship
, because, right, you need moneyto be able to now get a divorce
(08:55):
, or now provide for your ownhousing and take care of your
children if you are a parentwithout that other partner, if
they were supporting in thefirst place.
And so if the group, so Blackwomen, are going to be less
likely to earn a living wage,then they're going to be less
likely to earn a living wagethan they're going to be less
likely to have the resources toexit those relationships.
(09:15):
Another one of thosesocio-cultural phenomena that is
specific to Black women have todo with the overall trust in
our criminal justice system, andso, because of bias and
discrimination, we see thatracially and ethically
marginalized groups are just notas trusting in the system.
(09:36):
Is it going to be one thatprosecutes us more often when
crime is the same?
Why is this group beingtargeted more often?
Is it that we don't have asmuch trust in law enforcement
because of, you know, anunjustified shooting that was
never dealt with through?
Speaker 1 (09:55):
the system itself.
Speaker 2 (09:56):
And so if you're less trusting of those formal social
control mechanisms, then you'regoing to be less likely to
report.
Why should I call 911 ifthey're not going to help in the
first place?
There's also a few authors havewritten about this Hillary
Potter.
Dr Hillary Potter is anotherresearcher who looks at black
women's experiences withintimate partner violence.
(10:16):
And one of those that shementions, and others do as well,
is called the loyalty trap.
So it's kind of like, well, ifit's us against the world and I
report that you are harming me,then am I not loyal to my people
harming me, then am I not loyalto my people, and so do I need
(10:37):
to now put another black man inthe system if there's already so
many of them there, so, asyou're hiding your own scars
because you feel indebted to notair dirty laundry, and so
that's going to keep you in arelationship that's abusive
longer than someone who doesn'tfeel those same right, that's
not subject to the same loyaltytrap, so things like that.
And then the other idea orother phenomenon is perfect
(10:59):
victimhood, and who gets to beassigned that role, and so if
you are stereotyped as beingaggressive, then well, you must
have been the person whoprovoked the violence.
So we're not going to give youthe benefit of what comes with
being assigned the ideal victim.
Speaker 1 (11:20):
Yeah, and that is a lot to unpack.
That could be our whole episoderight there we could just pick
one of those factors and diveinto it, and I don't mean to,
you know, cast the broad brushover all of them, but I've heard
many of them before indifferent conversations and in
different work that I've read.
How do we overcome some ofthese things?
Speaker 2 (11:40):
That's a good question, heavy too.
I think having uncomfortableconversations, like you know,
atmospheres like this is veryimportant because the awareness
is the biggest thing.
So we might hear it in passing,but unless we hear it on a
larger platform and have peoplespeak about it, then it always
(12:00):
feels taboo.
Another part of it is that weare coming into a
socio-political contextnationwide that people are
afraid to talk about race,ethnicity and diversity, and so
a lot of times people feel liketheir jobs are at stake, and
many times it is when we seedifferent laws that get passed
and different decisions, and soif there's that chilling effect,
(12:24):
then we'll never have theconversation that we need to get
through.
And so, beyond that, if we pullout one of those factors that
talks about, like mistrust andnot wanting to report, then how
do we go into communities andmake them feel that law
enforcement can be on their sidewhen they are in need?
So some Black communities willreport that not only do they get
(12:48):
over-policed in terms of things, like you know stop and frisk
but they're also under policewhen it comes to reporting crime
and not receiving anyone comingto the scene.
And so if you are seeing thingson both sides that well, if I
call, they don't come, butthey're here to not do things
(13:08):
that are really beneficial forour community.
How do we convince local lawenforcement there that tactics
need to change right?
Because when we see thatpolicing is successful, it's
when there is community buy-in.
So if the community doesn'tfeel safe around you, then it's
going to be harder for you to doyour job as law enforcement as
(13:29):
well.
So it has to be some kind ofengagement and that's meaningful
and genuine, that makes thecommunity feel like oh okay, I
understand, you're here toprotect us and not just arrest
us.
Speaker 1 (13:43):
That's a quite a big goal to take on for any city in
any environment, and we weremaking some headway, I think, on
those issues a few years back,and now we're, to your point,
kind of in a space where we'renot sure what we're doing right
now.
Now, let's then talk aboutanother type of conversation,
which would be that in the media, which is how we kind of
(14:04):
started off this episode,because you conducted a research
study that looks specificallyat the media coverage as well as
the framing devices used bymedia when communicating stories
related to intimate partnerviolence and Black women.
So, to begin with, help usunderstand framing devices, how
they are used and if they arehelpful when reporting on
(14:25):
domestic violence.
Speaker 2 (14:26):
When we think about media, I think a good aspect to
focus on is coverage versusframing.
So media coverage in general isjust you're getting, you know,
an objective type of descriptionof a news event, whereas
framing is when they're going tobe different language or
(14:48):
devices that are trying to kindof move the needle on public
opinion a little bit.
So that could be well.
Let's add statistics as aframing device to add legitimacy
to this story.
Now, whether the statistics arefrom a good source is another
issue right, but that kind ofgives the guys that you, as the
(15:10):
reporter, did some digging tokind of give legitimacy to this
story.
Or are we now going to contactexperts, you know other
researchers or practitionersthat are well respected in the
field?
That is also something that isgoing to give some validity to
this stuff and frame it in acertain way.
And then, what kind of lens isit using?
(15:31):
Is it just a single person,like if it's IPV related?
Is it single victim centered?
And then we now make the storybroader.
Is that the frame that we'regoing to use or is there an
underlying tone that's going on?
So those are some of thedevices that we'll see in media
reports that we may not beconscious of them as we absorb
(15:54):
them.
So, is the reporter trying todefine the problem, are they
trying to diagnose the problem?
Are they trying to give a moraljudgment about the problem?
And then what are theyincluding in the article to meet
that goal that they have?
Speaker 1 (16:09):
Do you think that people, generally speaking, are
considering what they hear inthe media on that deep of a
level to pick up on those typesof things?
Speaker 2 (16:21):
Not always, and I would encourage everyone to try
to be as savvy of a mediaconsumer as they can be.
Who wrote it and why do youthink they wrote it?
And if you have that kind ofthe precursor before you dive in
, it will help you kind of raiseyour own antenna to say does
this sound right?
(16:41):
And I think fact checking needsto be something that happens
frequently.
If it's a news source that youtrust, why is it that you trust
them?
And then the reasons why youtrust them does that continue
every time you read that source?
Because maybe newspaper A 10years ago when you started
reading it did feel legitimatebecause of the things that you
(17:05):
appreciated in their writing.
But has that changed over time?
How has it?
And is something differentabout the tone or the things
included in the articles as youread them?
Speaker 1 (17:18):
Yeah, and I think it's more than just finding an
author or a journalist who youalign with Right.
It has to be honest, it has tobe unbiased, preferably.
There are a lot of factors.
Now I've been out of school fora very long time I'm going to
be really honest here so I hadto look up the term framing
devices.
And I found kind of a variety ofdifferent things that it could
(17:40):
be, and it reminds me of some ofthe things that my high school
teenagers at home complain aboutwhen they go to English class.
But one of the instances that Iread on framing devices is the
story within the story.
So, as it relates to intimatepartner violence here we can
talk about, a black woman wasraped at this block of this
(18:02):
address and subsequentlymurdered by who just happened to
be her intimate partner.
But then the bigger issue thatthe story can be framed with is
the disproportionate amount ofdomestic violence or intimate
partner violence that isexperienced by Black women,
which is what we started outtalking about in this
conversation.
(18:22):
How is that?
Speaker 2 (18:22):
helpful, I think, when, especially for something
that is so frequent domesticviolence in general, I think
anytime there's a report on aserious incident or a related
homicide, not framing it withinthe larger epidemic or even
pandemic may be evenirresponsible when it comes to
(18:46):
journalism.
And so when you don't take theopportunity to, when things are
posed as episodic, that's whenoh well, it's just another death
, it's unfortunate, but ithappens all the time.
It shouldn't be happening allthe time.
And I think that when you havea platform like media that you
know there's thousands, if notmillions, of clicks every day
(19:09):
and you don't do that, I thinkthat's a disservice to the
readership or the viewership ofyour publication or your source.
Speaker 1 (19:19):
Wow, I haven't heard it quite like that before, but I
agree with you that it could beirresponsible journalism doing
it that way.
Now the study that youconducted and completed.
I'd like to talk about thefindings of that.
Can you offer some examples ofwhere media coverage was
successful and also not helpful?
(19:39):
Yes, Okay.
Speaker 2 (19:40):
So when I did the search for articles, I said,
okay, let me see how many thatcan come up in this database
search that have the termsintimate partner violence or
domestic violence, and eitherblack women or African-American
women.
That was my search term, and soI looked at articles from about
2014 to 2022 is when thisreport came out and there
(20:03):
weren't a lot that had thosesearch terms.
I think it was about 13 or 14total lot that had those search
terms.
I think it was about 13 or 14total.
And so of the ones thatspecifically addressed it, they
were either just making thereader aware that there's this
elevated risk for Black women.
So I call that the first themerisk awareness.
So they're just generallysaying Black women are more
(20:24):
likely to be exposed to thiskind of harm.
Some went a step further and Icall it risk explanation.
So they not only tried to makethe reader aware of this
elevated risk, but then theytried to explain it a little bit
more.
Why is it that that's the case?
And then those that went thedeepest or the most in-depth
(20:46):
when discussing the issue, Icall it risk criticism.
So they not only are making youaware of the elevated risk,
they're explaining the elevatedrisk, and then they're saying
that there's a historical,systemic underlying
discrimination that is the causeof why the risk is elevated.
(21:06):
So it's doing more, and sothose were the ones that I would
say are most successful incommunicating why this is a
problem.
So there was an article thattalked about the batterer
perspective as well.
So why is it that Black men mayengage more often in battering?
And so one of the socioculturalexplanations that they discuss
(21:29):
was, especially when we are in asociety that's very hyper
focused on masculinity thatinvolves, you know, being a
provider and you can't makeenough money because you're not
getting employment thoseemotions are pent up because,
right, another part of toxicmasculinity is the expectation
that you can never expresssadness, right.
(21:52):
And so if the channel forexpressing sadness and
frustration ends up beingviolent and you come home with
that, you're going to take itout on those in the household,
and so that's not even justsociocultural, that comes with
even some kinds of professions.
(22:20):
There is research that showsthat, for instance, those in law
enforcement, because of whatthey see and absorb in the job,
that they take it out theirfrustrations at home.
And so if that's theenvironment that you're kind of
living in, then that can try toexplain why this risk is
elevated for this subpopulation.
And so, unless we get thethings that we read and the
things that we watch to kind ofdig a little deeper, then we
might know okay, surface levelthe risk is higher.
(22:40):
But and what?
Where's the remedy?
If we've diagnosed the problem,then what we have to figure out
, how to treat it and do soeffectively storytelling and
really giving the bigger pictureof, let's say, the person who
was the victim of this crime.
Speaker 1 (23:13):
You can hear this kind of peripherally or
superficially when they say, oh,she was a mother and she's
described as the most giving andforgiving person that we've
ever known, and you startedhearing these nice flowery
details.
But there's a bigger storyabout every single person who
becomes a victim of a crime likethis.
Let's talk about an example.
(23:34):
You shared this story with me.
It was about two women who weremurdered by their husbands on
separate occasions and bothduring conjugal visits at the
same prison facility, and thiswas within months of each other.
Tell us about those situationsand also about the media
depictions of each story, and sothat was really shocking.
Speaker 2 (23:55):
So I didn't hear about it until the second death,
and so I believe it's aCalifornia prison and not many
still even allow overnightconjugal visits, and so after
the first death you would thinkthat they would change policy at
the prison to make sure thatdoesn't happen again, right.
And so the fact that ithappened again, even the family
(24:17):
of the second victim, is justlike she should still be here.
And so at this point thecoverage has only been surface
level.
So it's left to the reader tomake presumptions about whether
these things are connected.
And maybe they are unconnectedin terms of those incarcerated
men, maybe weren't even in thesame unit, maybe those women
(24:40):
never knew each other, never saweach other when they were
checking in for the visits.
Right, but there has to be,according to me, because I guess
I've watched too many truecrime shows but it feels like
there's more to the story.
Like you said, both of the womenit seems like were Black, and
so you know why is that?
It could just be, you know,solely coincidental, but it
(25:02):
could also be that this actualprison has an
over-representation of Blackincarcerated people, and so then
that means there's going to bemore Black women visitors that
are coming.
If those same socioculturaldynamics are still present which
they are in society, then whatare the interactions during the
conjugal visit that's happening?
(25:24):
I believe they're supposed tobe monitored, like throughout
the visit, but clearly someonewasn't doing the monitoring like
they were supposed to.
So was it corrections officer,negligence, or was there some
kind of agreement that, well,turn the camera off, because I
can offer you this and then Ican do what I want without you
(25:46):
looking?
And so it's going to take somemore digging to understand the
circumstances that led to iteven happening.
Right, where was the protectionfor the visitor?
Because in general, when you donon-overnight, visits there are
corrections officers in the bigroom you can't hug for longer
than three seconds right toavoid like passing contraband or
(26:10):
anything like that.
And yes, if it's supposed to bea conjugal visit, then there
should be some level of privacy,because the point is to try to
reestablish or maintain theintimate relationship, because
it's that if someone who'sincarcerated can still feel
connected to the outside,they're more likely to behave,
because you don't want to losethat privilege and the
(26:32):
connection tries to stay inplace so that when you get out
you still have a bond and youstill have people looking out
for you that can help you whileyou're trying to like reenter
and reintegrate.
So that is why visitationexists at all, but you have to
make sure it's safe for everyone, everyone.
That story is just wildlydisturbing on so many levels and
(26:53):
I look forward to hearing moreabout it.
But I just wonder, since Ihaven't seen more coverage, if
it's just going to be like, oh,this is bad, and then we never
hear about it again.
Speaker 1 (27:03):
I have so many questions about this story and I
hope we can say that or justmake the distinction here that
these were women who werespouses or partners of
perpetrators, who wereimprisoned for crimes that were
not intimate partner violence.
Is that correct?
Speaker 2 (27:21):
That we don't know.
It doesn't seem like they wereincarcerated for intimate
partner violence.
I know at least one of them inthe news reports was there on a
homicide case.
I don't know if it was a formerpartner that was the victim.
And we don't know if thesewomen were married to the men
before they were incarcerated orwhile, because it could happen
(27:43):
in both ways.
We don't know if they metpre-imprisonment or while they
were in prison, because thereare people who meet and marry
while they're in custody.
Speaker 1 (27:52):
For sure, and because we were talking so narrowly
about injury partner violence Ithought well, maybe people think
that that's the crime.
Speaker 2 (27:59):
Could be.
So I think it would be up to areader that is particularly
invested, that tries to find thename of the men, to see what
they were charged with, to seewhat the crime was.
But, at this point we don't.
So it would be great for aninvestigative journalist to dig
a little deeper, like why werethey there?
When did they meet?
What was it about?
Because what if the women werenew partners to these men and
(28:22):
didn't have full informationabout their backgrounds?
If they met as pen pals andthey said well, I'm here and I'm
actually innocent and I'vesubmitted my case to the
Innocence Project and they'relooking into it for me, then you
think that this is a safeperson to be with, right?
So we just don't know and it'sjust scary not to have
information.
(28:43):
But at the same time I'm justlike are we entitled to
information?
That's not our business, but Ikind of feel like it is our
business.
Speaker 1 (28:52):
I don't know.
I think when you have twomurders that occur during a
conjugal visit within the sameprison system, within months of
each other, yeah, that doesbecome something that the public
needs to know more about, and Iwould hope that this particular
story is being deeplyinvestigated, as you suggested.
What guidelines do yourecommend to media and others
when reporting on intimatepartner violence and Black women
(29:14):
, and what would you like to seeimproved, eliminated or changed
?
Speaker 2 (29:17):
Yeah, that's a great, great question.
One of the things that Inoticed, or that I was looking
for in my report when I reviewedthe news article, is did they
mention resources?
Because it's possible that areader is also a victim or is
very close to someone who theyknow is being victimized.
So I would want all of thesearticles to mention a resource
(29:41):
at the end.
Mention a resource at the end,like if you see an article that
has to do with someone takingtheir own life nine times out of
10, you're going to see thehotline for suicide prevention
right.
I even saw like a story aboutWynonna and Ashley Judd talking
about.
It's been three years sincetheir mom, naomi, took her life
and at the end of that articleit had the suicide prevention
(30:02):
hotline and so anythingconcerning serious harm.
Where are the resources listedat the end?
Or can you contact someone fromone of these advocacy
organizations and that's theperson you're talking to?
So, I would like to see in thosereports that we always have
resources linked to.
Where is the number that avictim could potentially call?
(30:23):
If this is something that thereporter believes is largely a
local issue, when is the numberthat a victim could potentially
call?
If this is something that thereporter believes is largely a
local issue, what is theinformation for the local
shelter?
If there's a Dallas domesticviolence story, Genesis should
be listed at the end of thatarticle.
Speaker 1 (30:38):
I completely agree with that.
There's no reason it shouldn'tbe right.
Speaker 2 (30:42):
And I think not doing that, you're missing an
opportunity to reach people whomay need it, especially when we
see crime stories in safer sites.
Right, so a victim may not wantto go to the domestic violence
website because their searchhistory is being monitored, but
(31:02):
if you go to People magazine andthere's an article about a
domestic violence case and thosesame resources are listed at
the end, then they never have tobe clicking on something
they're not quote unquoteallowed to be looking at.
Speaker 1 (31:15):
That's a great point.
Speaker 2 (31:16):
And so resources I think should be in all of those
media articles, those mediaarticles.
I think also that the newsrooms,or the board of directors,
needs to not be afraid ofinclusivity when it comes to
what stories to cover andpromote.
So, even when we think aboutMarketing 101 and you want Gen Z
(31:40):
to be your new set of buyers,you're going to have a Gen Z-er
on your marketing team becauseyou want to know the language
that is going to speak to thatpopulation.
And so if you don't haveinclusivity when it comes to
your newsroom, then there areblind spots that you're never
going to realize are there,whether that is cultural,
(32:03):
whether that is gender specific,whether that is age related,
all of those things.
And so they need to not beafraid of having a diverse team,
especially when diversity meansso many things and I hate that
the word has been villainized atthis point but it means a lot
and it benefits a lot, and Ithink we are better consumers
(32:25):
when we know more about moregroups, because then for me I
think when you know more, it'seasier for you to spot BS and
sure yeah, so you're just likecan't read this site anymore
because they're not putting inthe work to create something
that is trustworthy andlegitimate.
Speaker 1 (32:44):
Yeah, we live in some interesting times right now.
This is a very interesting andtimely topic as well, especially
because of recent developmentswith let's just use the example
of 60 Minutes.
Speaker 2 (32:57):
Oh right.
Speaker 1 (32:58):
And I was reading about another one this morning,
I believe I read a headline thatsaid the president of CBS said
that she would resign.
And so there's somethinghappening with media now and
outside influences trying toshape it to certain ends and, to
your point, vilifying certainterms and types of stories,
(33:20):
which free speech is still anamendment.
The last time that I checked,yeah, it is.
Speaker 2 (33:26):
It's interesting to see how it's interpreted and I
think one of the I guess, thescariest things about our
current time is that, I think inthe back of everyone's mind,
when you're just like, oh well,that's unconstitutional, the
courts will handle it.
And what makes courts work, atleast in our country, is that
when they issue an order, thepeople subject to the order
(33:49):
follow it.
But if they don't follow it andthe order has no teeth, then
what?
Speaker 1 (33:55):
I am following what you're saying.
Speaker 2 (33:57):
Okay and so yeah, people are just like no, the
Supreme Court will strike thatdown.
Let's say they do.
And then what if no one listens?
And so that is the scary part,because I think for the most
part we've historically givendeference to the powers that be,
but when it comes to someonethat doesn't see deference, then
what do we do?
Speaker 1 (34:16):
That's a question that will have to be to be
continued for this conversation.
Where can people learn moreabout these types of topics?
Speaker 2 (34:26):
Yes, I just learned about this documentary yesterday
evening in our speakerreception.
It's called Subjects of Desire,and another presenter and
scholar whose work that I reallylike and cite frequently, dr
Carolyn West.
She is one of the scholars in it, and so it talks about media
depictions of Black women, andif the depictions reinforce
(34:50):
stereotypes, then that isabsorbed and creates higher risk
.
I also love the fact now that Iam working with our Crime
Victims Institute at Sam HoustonState University, so I would
encourage people to visit ourwebsite and our publication
section.
We have research reports datingback since the institution was
(35:12):
created in the mid-90s talkingabout different types of
victimization, whether that'sfrom cybercrime to youth to
gender-based sexual minoritiesall those types of different
topics and we have a veryportative advisory board that
also encourages us to focus oncertain topics based on their
expertise and practice as well,as we have great different
(35:36):
researchers and practitionerswho write for us.
So I definitely encouragepeople to visit our site and
then support and encourage andvisit the sites of violence
prevention agencies.
So everyone should celebrateorganizations like Genesis, like
Ujima that focuses onAfrican-American women and
domestic violence, and othersources and organizations whose
(36:01):
goal it is to end domesticviolence.
Speaker 1 (36:04):
Great advice and great resources, dr.
Miltonette Craig thank you forbeing on the show.
Thank you so much for having me.
This has been great.
Genesis Women's Shelter andSupport exists to give women in
abusive situations a way out.
We are committed to our missionof providing safety, shelter
and support for women andchildren who have experienced
domestic violence, and to raiseawareness regarding its cause,
(36:27):
prevalence and impact.
Join us in creating a societalshift on how people think about
domestic violence.
You can learn more atGenesisShelterorg and when you
follow us on social media onFacebook and Instagram at
Genesis Women's Shelter, and onX at Genesis Shelter, and
Instagram at Genesis Women'sShelter, and on X at Genesis
(36:47):
Shelter.
The Genesis Helpline isavailable 24 hours a day, seven
days a week, by call or text at214-946-HELP 214-946-4357.
Earlier this year, we met with presenters at the 2025
Conference on Crimes AgainstWomen in Dallas, texas.
In this episode, my guest, drMiltonette Craig, assistant
Professor of Criminal Justiceand Criminology and the Research
Coordinator for the CrimeVictims Institute at Sam Houston
State University, joins me todiscuss the elevated risk of
(00:20):
intimate partner violence toBlack women.
I'm Maria McMullin and this isGenesis, the podcast.
Intimate partner violenceoccurs at alarming rates in the
United States.
As recently as 2017, it wasestimated that three women are
murdered every day by intimatepartners in the US.
(00:43):
When we consider that blackwomen are six times more likely
to be murdered by an intimatepartner than white women, the
scenario becomes staggering.
And yet media coverage of theexperiences of Black women are
less often reported on, notalways accurately conveyed and
may or may not include thecontext of the elevated risk
posed to Black women by abusivepartners.
(01:04):
My guest, dr Miltonette Craig,is studying the media depictions
of black women's elevated riskof intimate partner violence and
joins us to help us understandhow media reports on IPV shapes
our opinions about both victimsand perpetrators and what can be
done to improve these aspectsof journalism.
Miltonette Olivia Craig is anassistant professor of criminal
(01:24):
justice and criminology and theresearch coordinator for the
Crimes Victims Institute at SamHouston State University.
Dr Craig completed her JD atGeorgia State University College
of Law and PhD in criminologyand criminal justice at Florida
State University.
Her research examinesintersectionality across
socio-legal institutions, suchas disparities in traffic stops,
(01:48):
use of force and communitysupervision outcomes.
Her work also uses anintersectional lens to examine
intimate partner violence andthe lived experiences of
system-involved individuals.
Her research has been publishedin peer-reviewed journals such
as Victims and Offenders, crimeand Delinquency, criminal
Justice and Behavior andPolicing, an international
(02:09):
journal.
She has contributed todiscussions on system reform and
police accountability in theChicago Tribune, houston
Chronicle, texas Standard andIllinois Public Radio.
Teaches undergraduate andgraduate courses, including
Fundamentals of Criminal Law,criminal Justice, ethics Seminar
in American Courts and LegalAspects of Criminal Justice.
(02:30):
Miltonette, welcome to the show.
Thanks for having me.
I'm so happy to be with youhere at the Conference on Crimes
Against Women 2025.
It's our 20th anniversary inDallas, texas.
Is this your first timepresenting?
Speaker 2 (02:43):
Yes, this is my first time presenting.
Speaker 1 (02:45):
It's so exciting.
Now you work at Sam HoustonState University with a special
focus on media depictions of theelevated risk for intimate
partner violence.
What led you to focus on thisparticular aspect of the IPV
experience?
Speaker 2 (03:00):
Yes, so in my master's program I read a very
fascinating book by Dr BethRitchie, who is a sociologist
and focuses on women's crimesand issues and victimization,
and the book is called Compelledto Crime.
I think came out in 96.
And she interviews women whoare incarcerated to understand
(03:22):
the trajectory that led them tobeing criminal justice system
involved and found that all ofthem had trauma and abuse in
their background and so thatkind of being compelled to crime
, and she created a frameworkcalled gender entrapment.
Basically, because ofsubjugation by virtue of gender
(03:43):
and class, they were pushed intoan environment and situations
where the only response thatthey had in their wheelhouse was
something that was, you know,defined as criminal, especially
those who were subjected todomestic violence or intimate
partner violence.
Speaker 1 (04:01):
Yeah, and I think what you're referring to in
those cases is where a victim ofdomestic violence injures or
fatally injures her domesticpartner due to the abuse or as a
result of the abuse.
Yeah, some of those, yeah, andthen is then incarcerated for
that, without the court's fullunderstanding of the background
(04:22):
of abuse.
And we do a little bit and I'mlike holding up a little smidge
of finger space here a littlebit better these days, because
that subject has really beenbrought out into the forefront
and we talk about it and educatecourts and judges and others
about that issue and I thinkthat there's a disproportionate
rate of Black women who havethat particular experience.
Speaker 2 (04:45):
Is that true?
Yes, and another part of it isyes.
There is the response in thatrelationship itself, but also
previous histories of abuseteaching you poor coping skills.
Sure that violence is theanswer, because it was always
the answer used against you inyour past.
Speaker 1 (05:04):
Yeah, absolutely.
That's an excellent point.
Now let's talk about the ratesof intimate partner violence for
Black women in the UnitedStates.
Help us understand the risklevels and incident rates for
that population.
Speaker 2 (05:17):
One of the estimates that I see most often in the
research shows that Black womenabout 43% of them have reported
that they've experiencedintimate partner violence in
their lifetime, and that wouldbe compared to just about 30% to
similarly situated white women,and so the Institute for
Women's Policy Researchpublished a report called the
(05:39):
Status of Black Women in the US.
I think it came out in 2017.
So they talk about thosestatistics.
There's another one, anempirical study from 2015 by
Sabina and Swatt, and theyshowed that Black women have the
highest rate of intimatepartner homicide right, the most
deadly form of IPV, a rate thatwas about 2.2, compared to 1.01
(06:05):
for Latinas and 0.83 for whitewomen.
Speaker 1 (06:10):
So all of that is to say, the risk is higher, the
incidence rate is higher and thefatality is higher for black
women, and yet the mediacoverage which is really what
we're going to focus on in thisconversation the media coverage
of these incidents for blackwomen is less than best.
(06:32):
It's less than it would be forother populations, more
particularly focused on whitewomen who go missing, and that's
another topic that has reallycome to the fore over the past
few years, and rightfully so,and the Black and Missing
Foundation has been working veryhard to make sure that that is
part of the conversation and toget more media coverage about
(06:55):
these disappearances of Blackwomen and men and children, as
well as murders of all people.
All people should have, thereshould be coverage, there should
be discussion, there should beinvestigation work.
Now, in September 2022, youauthored a publication titled
Special Topics Media Depictionsof Black Women's Elevated Risk
(07:16):
for Intimate Partner Violence,and you wrote about some of the
and this is a quotesocioeconomic and cultural
factors that contribute to theelevated risk.
What are those factors?
Speaker 2 (07:26):
Yes, and one thing before getting to that with the
disparities when we think aboutdisparities largely in society
and one group is overrepresented, we usually think that it makes
sense to target resourcestowards that group.
So it may be that, you know,teens are at a higher risk for X
(07:46):
, so let's now pull theresources because that group is
more prone to this type of harm.
And so that's generally theunderlying, I guess, foundation
of the research that I do andthe work that others do as well.
It's about well, if we knowthat one group is in need of
resources because of this, thenlet's figure out how to address
(08:11):
that, and that's why thesociocultural aspect comes in
there, so kind of a segue there.
So in the report I talk aboutone of the things having to do
with income and impoverishment.
So, because of our history inthe US with systemic
discrimination, it is going tobe more likely that those who
are members of marginalizedgroups are going to have less
(08:34):
access to financial resources,whether that is from legitimate
employment, right being able toget from an abusive relationship
, because, right, you need moneyto be able to now get a divorce
(08:55):
, or now provide for your ownhousing and take care of your
children if you are a parentwithout that other partner, if
they were supporting in thefirst place.
And so if the group, so Blackwomen, are going to be less
likely to earn a living wage,then they're going to be less
likely to earn a living wagethan they're going to be less
likely to have the resources toexit those relationships.
(09:15):
Another one of thosesocio-cultural phenomena that is
specific to Black women have todo with the overall trust in
our criminal justice system, andso, because of bias and
discrimination, we see thatracially and ethically
marginalized groups are just notas trusting in the system.
(09:36):
Is it going to be one thatprosecutes us more often when
crime is the same?
Why is this group beingtargeted more often?
Is it that we don't have asmuch trust in law enforcement
because of, you know, anunjustified shooting that was
never dealt with through?
Speaker 1 (09:55):
the system itself.
Speaker 2 (09:56):
And so if you're less trusting of those formal social
control mechanisms, then you'regoing to be less likely to
report.
Why should I call 911 ifthey're not going to help in the
first place?
There's also a few authors havewritten about this Hillary
Potter.
Dr Hillary Potter is anotherresearcher who looks at black
women's experiences withintimate partner violence.
(10:16):
And one of those that shementions, and others do as well,
is called the loyalty trap.
So it's kind of like, well, ifit's us against the world and I
report that you are harming me,then am I not loyal to my people
harming me, then am I not loyalto my people, and so do I need
(10:37):
to now put another black man inthe system if there's already so
many of them there, so, asyou're hiding your own scars
because you feel indebted to notair dirty laundry, and so
that's going to keep you in arelationship that's abusive
longer than someone who doesn'tfeel those same right, that's
not subject to the same loyaltytrap, so things like that.
And then the other idea orother phenomenon is perfect
(10:59):
victimhood, and who gets to beassigned that role, and so if
you are stereotyped as beingaggressive, then well, you must
have been the person whoprovoked the violence.
So we're not going to give youthe benefit of what comes with
being assigned the ideal victim.
Speaker 1 (11:20):
Yeah, and that is a lot to unpack.
That could be our whole episoderight there we could just pick
one of those factors and diveinto it, and I don't mean to,
you know, cast the broad brushover all of them, but I've heard
many of them before indifferent conversations and in
different work that I've read.
How do we overcome some ofthese things?
Speaker 2 (11:40):
That's a good question, heavy too.
I think having uncomfortableconversations, like you know,
atmospheres like this is veryimportant because the awareness
is the biggest thing.
So we might hear it in passing,but unless we hear it on a
larger platform and have peoplespeak about it, then it always
(12:00):
feels taboo.
Another part of it is that weare coming into a
socio-political contextnationwide that people are
afraid to talk about race,ethnicity and diversity, and so
a lot of times people feel liketheir jobs are at stake, and
many times it is when we seedifferent laws that get passed
and different decisions, and soif there's that chilling effect,
(12:24):
then we'll never have theconversation that we need to get
through.
And so, beyond that, if we pullout one of those factors that
talks about, like mistrust andnot wanting to report, then how
do we go into communities andmake them feel that law
enforcement can be on their sidewhen they are in need?
So some Black communities willreport that not only do they get
(12:48):
over-policed in terms of things, like you know stop and frisk
but they're also under policewhen it comes to reporting crime
and not receiving anyone comingto the scene.
And so if you are seeing thingson both sides that well, if I
call, they don't come, butthey're here to not do things
(13:08):
that are really beneficial forour community.
How do we convince local lawenforcement there that tactics
need to change right?
Because when we see thatpolicing is successful, it's
when there is community buy-in.
So if the community doesn'tfeel safe around you, then it's
going to be harder for you to doyour job as law enforcement as
(13:29):
well.
So it has to be some kind ofengagement and that's meaningful
and genuine, that makes thecommunity feel like oh okay, I
understand, you're here toprotect us and not just arrest
us.
Speaker 1 (13:43):
That's a quite a big goal to take on for any city in
any environment, and we weremaking some headway, I think, on
those issues a few years back,and now we're, to your point,
kind of in a space where we'renot sure what we're doing right
now.
Now, let's then talk aboutanother type of conversation,
which would be that in the media, which is how we kind of
(14:04):
started off this episode,because you conducted a research
study that looks specificallyat the media coverage as well as
the framing devices used bymedia when communicating stories
related to intimate partnerviolence and Black women.
So, to begin with, help usunderstand framing devices, how
they are used and if they arehelpful when reporting on
(14:25):
domestic violence.
Speaker 2 (14:26):
When we think about media, I think a good aspect to
focus on is coverage versusframing.
So media coverage in general isjust you're getting, you know,
an objective type of descriptionof a news event, whereas
framing is when they're going tobe different language or
(14:48):
devices that are trying to kindof move the needle on public
opinion a little bit.
So that could be well.
Let's add statistics as aframing device to add legitimacy
to this story.
Now, whether the statistics arefrom a good source is another
issue right, but that kind ofgives the guys that you, as the
(15:10):
reporter, did some digging tokind of give legitimacy to this
story.
Or are we now going to contactexperts, you know other
researchers or practitionersthat are well respected in the
field?
That is also something that isgoing to give some validity to
this stuff and frame it in acertain way.
And then, what kind of lens isit using?
(15:31):
Is it just a single person,like if it's IPV related?
Is it single victim centered?
And then we now make the storybroader.
Is that the frame that we'regoing to use or is there an
underlying tone that's going on?
So those are some of thedevices that we'll see in media
reports that we may not beconscious of them as we absorb
(15:54):
them.
So, is the reporter trying todefine the problem, are they
trying to diagnose the problem?
Are they trying to give a moraljudgment about the problem?
And then what are theyincluding in the article to meet
that goal that they have?
Speaker 1 (16:09):
Do you think that people, generally speaking, are
considering what they hear inthe media on that deep of a
level to pick up on those typesof things?
Speaker 2 (16:21):
Not always, and I would encourage everyone to try
to be as savvy of a mediaconsumer as they can be.
Who wrote it and why do youthink they wrote it?
And if you have that kind ofthe precursor before you dive in
, it will help you kind of raiseyour own antenna to say does
this sound right?
(16:41):
And I think fact checking needsto be something that happens
frequently.
If it's a news source that youtrust, why is it that you trust
them?
And then the reasons why youtrust them does that continue
every time you read that source?
Because maybe newspaper A 10years ago when you started
reading it did feel legitimatebecause of the things that you
(17:05):
appreciated in their writing.
But has that changed over time?
How has it?
And is something differentabout the tone or the things
included in the articles as youread them?
Speaker 1 (17:18):
Yeah, and I think it's more than just finding an
author or a journalist who youalign with Right.
It has to be honest, it has tobe unbiased, preferably.
There are a lot of factors.
Now I've been out of school fora very long time I'm going to
be really honest here so I hadto look up the term framing
devices.
And I found kind of a variety ofdifferent things that it could
(17:40):
be, and it reminds me of some ofthe things that my high school
teenagers at home complain aboutwhen they go to English class.
But one of the instances that Iread on framing devices is the
story within the story.
So, as it relates to intimatepartner violence here we can
talk about, a black woman wasraped at this block of this
(18:02):
address and subsequentlymurdered by who just happened to
be her intimate partner.
But then the bigger issue thatthe story can be framed with is
the disproportionate amount ofdomestic violence or intimate
partner violence that isexperienced by Black women,
which is what we started outtalking about in this
conversation.
(18:22):
How is that?
Speaker 2 (18:22):
helpful, I think, when, especially for something
that is so frequent domesticviolence in general, I think
anytime there's a report on aserious incident or a related
homicide, not framing it withinthe larger epidemic or even
pandemic may be evenirresponsible when it comes to
(18:46):
journalism.
And so when you don't take theopportunity to, when things are
posed as episodic, that's whenoh well, it's just another death
, it's unfortunate, but ithappens all the time.
It shouldn't be happening allthe time.
And I think that when you havea platform like media that you
know there's thousands, if notmillions, of clicks every day
(19:09):
and you don't do that, I thinkthat's a disservice to the
readership or the viewership ofyour publication or your source.
Speaker 1 (19:19):
Wow, I haven't heard it quite like that before, but I
agree with you that it could beirresponsible journalism doing
it that way.
Now the study that youconducted and completed.
I'd like to talk about thefindings of that.
Can you offer some examples ofwhere media coverage was
successful and also not helpful?
(19:39):
Yes, Okay.
Speaker 2 (19:40):
So when I did the search for articles, I said,
okay, let me see how many thatcan come up in this database
search that have the termsintimate partner violence or
domestic violence, and eitherblack women or African-American
women.
That was my search term, and soI looked at articles from about
2014 to 2022 is when thisreport came out and there
(20:03):
weren't a lot that had thosesearch terms.
I think it was about 13 or 14total lot that had those search
terms.
I think it was about 13 or 14total.
And so of the ones thatspecifically addressed it, they
were either just making thereader aware that there's this
elevated risk for Black women.
So I call that the first themerisk awareness.
So they're just generallysaying Black women are more
(20:24):
likely to be exposed to thiskind of harm.
Some went a step further and Icall it risk explanation.
So they not only tried to makethe reader aware of this
elevated risk, but then theytried to explain it a little bit
more.
Why is it that that's the case?
And then those that went thedeepest or the most in-depth
(20:46):
when discussing the issue, Icall it risk criticism.
So they not only are making youaware of the elevated risk,
they're explaining the elevatedrisk, and then they're saying
that there's a historical,systemic underlying
discrimination that is the causeof why the risk is elevated.
(21:06):
So it's doing more, and sothose were the ones that I would
say are most successful incommunicating why this is a
problem.
So there was an article thattalked about the batterer
perspective as well.
So why is it that Black men mayengage more often in battering?
And so one of the socioculturalexplanations that they discuss
(21:29):
was, especially when we are in asociety that's very hyper
focused on masculinity thatinvolves, you know, being a
provider and you can't makeenough money because you're not
getting employment thoseemotions are pent up because,
right, another part of toxicmasculinity is the expectation
that you can never expresssadness, right.
(21:52):
And so if the channel forexpressing sadness and
frustration ends up beingviolent and you come home with
that, you're going to take itout on those in the household,
and so that's not even justsociocultural, that comes with
even some kinds of professions.
(22:20):
There is research that showsthat, for instance, those in law
enforcement, because of whatthey see and absorb in the job,
that they take it out theirfrustrations at home.
And so if that's theenvironment that you're kind of
living in, then that can try toexplain why this risk is
elevated for this subpopulation.
And so, unless we get thethings that we read and the
things that we watch to kind ofdig a little deeper, then we
might know okay, surface levelthe risk is higher.
(22:40):
But and what?
Where's the remedy?
If we've diagnosed the problem,then what we have to figure out
, how to treat it and do soeffectively storytelling and
really giving the bigger pictureof, let's say, the person who
was the victim of this crime.
Speaker 1 (23:13):
You can hear this kind of peripherally or
superficially when they say, oh,she was a mother and she's
described as the most giving andforgiving person that we've
ever known, and you startedhearing these nice flowery
details.
But there's a bigger storyabout every single person who
becomes a victim of a crime likethis.
Let's talk about an example.
(23:34):
You shared this story with me.
It was about two women who weremurdered by their husbands on
separate occasions and bothduring conjugal visits at the
same prison facility, and thiswas within months of each other.
Tell us about those situationsand also about the media
depictions of each story, and sothat was really shocking.
Speaker 2 (23:55):
So I didn't hear about it until the second death,
and so I believe it's aCalifornia prison and not many
still even allow overnightconjugal visits, and so after
the first death you would thinkthat they would change policy at
the prison to make sure thatdoesn't happen again, right.
And so the fact that ithappened again, even the family
(24:17):
of the second victim, is justlike she should still be here.
And so at this point thecoverage has only been surface
level.
So it's left to the reader tomake presumptions about whether
these things are connected.
And maybe they are unconnectedin terms of those incarcerated
men, maybe weren't even in thesame unit, maybe those women
(24:40):
never knew each other, never saweach other when they were
checking in for the visits.
Right, but there has to be,according to me, because I guess
I've watched too many truecrime shows but it feels like
there's more to the story.
Like you said, both of the womenit seems like were Black, and
so you know why is that?
It could just be, you know,solely coincidental, but it
(25:02):
could also be that this actualprison has an
over-representation of Blackincarcerated people, and so then
that means there's going to bemore Black women visitors that
are coming.
If those same socioculturaldynamics are still present which
they are in society, then whatare the interactions during the
conjugal visit that's happening?
(25:24):
I believe they're supposed tobe monitored, like throughout
the visit, but clearly someonewasn't doing the monitoring like
they were supposed to.
So was it corrections officer,negligence, or was there some
kind of agreement that, well,turn the camera off, because I
can offer you this and then Ican do what I want without you
(25:46):
looking?
And so it's going to take somemore digging to understand the
circumstances that led to iteven happening.
Right, where was the protectionfor the visitor?
Because in general, when you donon-overnight, visits there are
corrections officers in the bigroom you can't hug for longer
than three seconds right toavoid like passing contraband or
(26:10):
anything like that.
And yes, if it's supposed to bea conjugal visit, then there
should be some level of privacy,because the point is to try to
reestablish or maintain theintimate relationship, because
it's that if someone who'sincarcerated can still feel
connected to the outside,they're more likely to behave,
because you don't want to losethat privilege and the
(26:32):
connection tries to stay inplace so that when you get out
you still have a bond and youstill have people looking out
for you that can help you whileyou're trying to like reenter
and reintegrate.
So that is why visitationexists at all, but you have to
make sure it's safe for everyone, everyone.
That story is just wildlydisturbing on so many levels and
(26:53):
I look forward to hearing moreabout it.
But I just wonder, since Ihaven't seen more coverage, if
it's just going to be like, oh,this is bad, and then we never
hear about it again.
Speaker 1 (27:03):
I have so many questions about this story and I
hope we can say that or justmake the distinction here that
these were women who werespouses or partners of
perpetrators, who wereimprisoned for crimes that were
not intimate partner violence.
Is that correct?
Speaker 2 (27:21):
That we don't know.
It doesn't seem like they wereincarcerated for intimate
partner violence.
I know at least one of them inthe news reports was there on a
homicide case.
I don't know if it was a formerpartner that was the victim.
And we don't know if thesewomen were married to the men
before they were incarcerated orwhile, because it could happen
(27:43):
in both ways.
We don't know if they metpre-imprisonment or while they
were in prison, because thereare people who meet and marry
while they're in custody.
Speaker 1 (27:52):
For sure, and because we were talking so narrowly
about injury partner violence Ithought well, maybe people think
that that's the crime.
Speaker 2 (27:59):
Could be.
So I think it would be up to areader that is particularly
invested, that tries to find thename of the men, to see what
they were charged with, to seewhat the crime was.
But, at this point we don't.
So it would be great for aninvestigative journalist to dig
a little deeper, like why werethey there?
When did they meet?
What was it about?
Because what if the women werenew partners to these men and
(28:22):
didn't have full informationabout their backgrounds?
If they met as pen pals andthey said well, I'm here and I'm
actually innocent and I'vesubmitted my case to the
Innocence Project and they'relooking into it for me, then you
think that this is a safeperson to be with, right?
So we just don't know and it'sjust scary not to have
information.
(28:43):
But at the same time I'm justlike are we entitled to
information?
That's not our business, but Ikind of feel like it is our
business.
Speaker 1 (28:52):
I don't know.
I think when you have twomurders that occur during a
conjugal visit within the sameprison system, within months of
each other, yeah, that doesbecome something that the public
needs to know more about, and Iwould hope that this particular
story is being deeplyinvestigated, as you suggested.
What guidelines do yourecommend to media and others
when reporting on intimatepartner violence and Black women
(29:14):
, and what would you like to seeimproved, eliminated or changed
?
Speaker 2 (29:17):
Yeah, that's a great, great question.
One of the things that Inoticed, or that I was looking
for in my report when I reviewedthe news article, is did they
mention resources?
Because it's possible that areader is also a victim or is
very close to someone who theyknow is being victimized.
So I would want all of thesearticles to mention a resource
(29:41):
at the end.
Mention a resource at the end,like if you see an article that
has to do with someone takingtheir own life nine times out of
10, you're going to see thehotline for suicide prevention
right.
I even saw like a story aboutWynonna and Ashley Judd talking
about.
It's been three years sincetheir mom, naomi, took her life
and at the end of that articleit had the suicide prevention
(30:02):
hotline and so anythingconcerning serious harm.
Where are the resources listedat the end?
Or can you contact someone fromone of these advocacy
organizations and that's theperson you're talking to?
So, I would like to see in thosereports that we always have
resources linked to.
Where is the number that avictim could potentially call?
(30:23):
If this is something that thereporter believes is largely a
local issue, when is the numberthat a victim could potentially
call?
If this is something that thereporter believes is largely a
local issue, what is theinformation for the local
shelter?
If there's a Dallas domesticviolence story, Genesis should
be listed at the end of thatarticle.
Speaker 1 (30:38):
I completely agree with that.
There's no reason it shouldn'tbe right.
Speaker 2 (30:42):
And I think not doing that, you're missing an
opportunity to reach people whomay need it, especially when we
see crime stories in safer sites.
Right, so a victim may not wantto go to the domestic violence
website because their searchhistory is being monitored, but
(31:02):
if you go to People magazine andthere's an article about a
domestic violence case and thosesame resources are listed at
the end, then they never have tobe clicking on something
they're not quote unquoteallowed to be looking at.
Speaker 1 (31:15):
That's a great point.
Speaker 2 (31:16):
And so resources I think should be in all of those
media articles, those mediaarticles.
I think also that the newsrooms,or the board of directors,
needs to not be afraid ofinclusivity when it comes to
what stories to cover andpromote.
So, even when we think aboutMarketing 101 and you want Gen Z
(31:40):
to be your new set of buyers,you're going to have a Gen Z-er
on your marketing team becauseyou want to know the language
that is going to speak to thatpopulation.
And so if you don't haveinclusivity when it comes to
your newsroom, then there areblind spots that you're never
going to realize are there,whether that is cultural,
(32:03):
whether that is gender specific,whether that is age related,
all of those things.
And so they need to not beafraid of having a diverse team,
especially when diversity meansso many things and I hate that
the word has been villainized atthis point but it means a lot
and it benefits a lot, and Ithink we are better consumers
(32:25):
when we know more about moregroups, because then for me I
think when you know more, it'seasier for you to spot BS and
sure yeah, so you're just likecan't read this site anymore
because they're not putting inthe work to create something
that is trustworthy andlegitimate.
Speaker 1 (32:44):
Yeah, we live in some interesting times right now.
This is a very interesting andtimely topic as well, especially
because of recent developmentswith let's just use the example
of 60 Minutes.
Speaker 2 (32:57):
Oh right.
Speaker 1 (32:58):
And I was reading about another one this morning,
I believe I read a headline thatsaid the president of CBS said
that she would resign.
And so there's somethinghappening with media now and
outside influences trying toshape it to certain ends and, to
your point, vilifying certainterms and types of stories,
(33:20):
which free speech is still anamendment.
The last time that I checked,yeah, it is.
Speaker 2 (33:26):
It's interesting to see how it's interpreted and I
think one of the I guess, thescariest things about our
current time is that, I think inthe back of everyone's mind,
when you're just like, oh well,that's unconstitutional, the
courts will handle it.
And what makes courts work, atleast in our country, is that
when they issue an order, thepeople subject to the order
(33:49):
follow it.
But if they don't follow it andthe order has no teeth, then
what?
Speaker 1 (33:55):
I am following what you're saying.
Speaker 2 (33:57):
Okay and so yeah, people are just like no, the
Supreme Court will strike thatdown.
Let's say they do.
And then what if no one listens?
And so that is the scary part,because I think for the most
part we've historically givendeference to the powers that be,
but when it comes to someonethat doesn't see deference, then
what do we do?
Speaker 1 (34:16):
That's a question that will have to be to be
continued for this conversation.
Where can people learn moreabout these types of topics?
Speaker 2 (34:26):
Yes, I just learned about this documentary yesterday
evening in our speakerreception.
It's called Subjects of Desire,and another presenter and
scholar whose work that I reallylike and cite frequently, dr
Carolyn West.
She is one of the scholars in it, and so it talks about media
depictions of Black women, andif the depictions reinforce
(34:50):
stereotypes, then that isabsorbed and creates higher risk
.
I also love the fact now that Iam working with our Crime
Victims Institute at Sam HoustonState University, so I would
encourage people to visit ourwebsite and our publication
section.
We have research reports datingback since the institution was
(35:12):
created in the mid-90s talkingabout different types of
victimization, whether that'sfrom cybercrime to youth to
gender-based sexual minoritiesall those types of different
topics and we have a veryportative advisory board that
also encourages us to focus oncertain topics based on their
expertise and practice as well,as we have great different
(35:36):
researchers and practitionerswho write for us.
So I definitely encouragepeople to visit our site and
then support and encourage andvisit the sites of violence
prevention agencies.
So everyone should celebrateorganizations like Genesis, like
Ujima that focuses onAfrican-American women and
domestic violence, and othersources and organizations whose
(36:01):
goal it is to end domesticviolence.
Speaker 1 (36:04):
Great advice and great resources, dr.
Miltonette Craig thank you forbeing on the show.
Thank you so much for having me.
This has been great.
Genesis Women's Shelter andSupport exists to give women in
abusive situations a way out.
We are committed to our missionof providing safety, shelter
and support for women andchildren who have experienced
domestic violence, and to raiseawareness regarding its cause,
(36:27):
prevalence and impact.
Join us in creating a societalshift on how people think about
domestic violence.
You can learn more atGenesisShelterorg and when you
follow us on social media onFacebook and Instagram at
Genesis Women's Shelter, and onX at Genesis Shelter, and
Instagram at Genesis Women'sShelter, and on X at Genesis
(36:47):
Shelter.
The Genesis Helpline isavailable 24 hours a day, seven
days a week, by call or text at214-946-HELP 214-946-4357.
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