May 22, 2017 The #FreeBresha campaign is infuriated that 15-year-old domestic violence survivor, Bresha Meadows, has been forced by Ohio prosecutors to submit to a plea deal that would keep her in juvenile detention for a full year (which includes 10 months of time served) and an additional 6 months of incarceration in a “treatment … More Statement on Bresha Meadows’ Plea Deal
Victoria Law @ Rewire. Excerpt below: But what about survivors of violence who don’t have this kind of publicity or support? No one knows the exact—or even approximate—numbers of people behind bars who are survivors of family or domestic violence. A 2014 study found that 84 percent of girls in the juvenile justice system had experienced family … More Bresha Meadows Is Out From Behind Bars—But What About Other Abuse Survivors?
Welcome home, Bresha. In this post, #FreeBresha organizers Colby Lenz and Mariame Kaba review how #FreeBresha successfully advocated for Bresha Meadows, an Ohio teen who was jailed after killing her father in self-defense. (Originally published at Teen Vogue) Bresha Meadows was released to return to her family on February 4, after surviving juvenile and mental health incarceration since her … More Bresha Meadows Returns Home After Collective Organizing Efforts
Bresha Meadows: Survived and Punished Bresha Meadows was 14 years old in July 2016 when she allegedly used the gun that her father had brandished for years against her and her family (terrorizing and abusing them) to shoot him in his sleep. Bresha long learned to fear her father who had repeatedly made threats to … More #FreeBresha Video
National grassroots organization, Survived and Punished, just released a new downloadable toolkit for organizing defense campaigns for survivors who are criminalized. Excerpt: #SurvivedAndPunished: Survivor Defense as Abolitionist Praxis is a collection of tools, tips, lessons and resources developed through our own experiences. It is also an effort to document and reflect on our own movement … More New Toolkit for Organizing Defense Campaigns
Jenna Barnett @ Sojourners. Description of audio report below: When 14-year-old Bresha Meadows shot her father after allegedly enduring a lifetime of his abuse, she could have just been one more girl processed through what’s become known as the abuse-to-prison pipeline. But instead, the #FreeBresha movement arrived to question the harsh, punitive nature of our … More ‘Does the Incarceration of This 14-Year-Old Girl Make Us Safer?’
De Elizabeth @ Teen Vogue; excerpt below: An online campaign dedicated to helping 15-year-old Bresha Meadows just exceeded its goal, seemingly thanks to Fifth Harmony‘s Lauren Jauregui. Bresha, who had been accused of fatally shooting her allegedly abusive father, recently accepted a plea deal, which would enable her to spend six months in a mental … More Fifth Harmony’s Lauren Jauregui Reportedly Donates $3,000 to Bresha Meadows
Andrea Simakis @ The Plain Dealer; excerpt below: At a tense and emotional hearing in Trumbull County Juvenile Court Monday, prosecutor Stanley Elkins amended the charges to involuntary manslaughter, a third-degree felony. Bresha, her hair in braids and gathered into a puffy topknot, answered “true” to those charges, the language used by those adjudicated in … More Bresha Meadows to serve 6-months in Cleveland treatment facility following plea deal in shooting death of her father
#FreeBresha campaign member, Mariame Kaba, reports on what she witnessed at Bresha Meadows’ May 22, 2017 court appearance when Bresha’s plea deal was finalized. Article @ Teen Vogue; excerpt below: For her entire life, Bresha witnessed her father’s brutal violence against her mother and siblings, according to family members. Bresha herself was also abused emotionally … More Bresha Meadows’s Hearing Resulted in a Plea Deal
Love Poems for Bresha is a national action coordinated with local activists in partnership with FORCE: Upsetting Rape Culture, an artist collective dedicated to building public healing spaces for survivors. Help us build a powerful space of love for all Black girls fighting to live in a world that doesn’t see us, and send love to … More Love Poems for Bresha
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