Broken Women’s Stories of Intimate and Institutional Harm and Repair

Reviews

"Riveting. Renowned expert Lisa Young Larance leads readers on the journeys of 33 women 'broken' by the trauma they have endured, the harm they have caused, and the institutional betrayal they have encountered as they've navigated the criminal justice system, Child Protective Services, and antiviolence intervention programs. A must-read for judges, probation officers, child welfare workers, and social work practitioners, this book challenges the reader to reimagine systems to holistically address what is broken."—Hon. Elizabeth Pollard Hines (retired), Chair, Domestic Violence Committee, American Judges Association

"Young Larance's work has been essential in helping us understand the complex lives of women accused of causing harm in intimate relationships. In this outstanding book, she advances a welcome, nuanced perspective that shatters the victim/offender binary. Lifting the voices of survivors who find healing and transformation in community, Broken is more than an excellent academic study: offering hope and a powerful call to action, this book has the potential to positively transform how practitioners, researchers, and policymakers understand and address domestic violence, benefiting not only criminalized women but all marginalized individuals and communities."—Juan Carlos Areán, Program Director, Futures Without Violence

"Broken, real women's voices take us on a journey that compels us to question our clear-cut, traditional, and comfortable understanding of the dichotomy of victim and perpetrator. Centering multiply marginalized women, including queer women and women of color, Young Larance's intersectional analysis restores the complexity stripped from these women's stories by the institutions that supposedly protect battered women yet end up cannibalizing them. Broken is not just about despair, injustice, and institutional indifference: ultimately, it is about women's resilience and hope."— Shamita Das Dasgupta, cofounder, Manavi

"In this fascinating and deeply moving book, Young Larance recounts the stories of criminalized survivors of domestic violence, shining light on how parts of the punitive state that are often obscured from view contribute to their breakage. Just as importantly, she draws on the women's insights and her own substantial experience to provide recommendations on what is needed to repair what the state and their abusive partners have broken."—Leigh Goodmark, author of Imperfect Victims: Criminalized Survivors and the Promise of Abolition Feminism

"Broken bears witness to the harrowing experiences of survivors of intimate partner violence and interrogates the enduring and cumulative criminalization of their victimization. Amplifying survivor's voices and illustrating how these women navigate the coercive authority of the criminal legal system, Young Larance reveals how systems-involved women resist and begin to mend their breakage. Wielding essential insights into the punishment culture inherent in community-based carceral corrections, Young Larance also reimagines interventions in ways that are trauma-informed, challenge implicit bias, and offer meaningful support and resources."—Susan Miller, author of Victims as Offenders: The Paradox of Women's Violence in Relationships

"Broken offers readers a deep look into the impact of the criminal, civil, and family legal systems on survivors of gender-based violence. Young Larance skillfully weaves the voices of those with lived experience into her analysis, thoughtfully unpacking the injury that current interventions often cause to those with survivorship histories. Broken challenges those who work within systems to meaningfully consider the complex lives of survivors when crafting interventions and leaves readers with the resounding message that survivors who are heard, understood, and supported in nonjudgmental settings are less vulnerable to further harm and have new spaces to heal from breakage."—Quetita Cavero, Esq., Deputy Director, National Defense Center for Criminalized Survivors   

"Told with rigor and compassion, Broken deftly shows how women are placed in impossible situations by systems that see them only as either victim or offender, never both. This will be an invaluable book for students, scholars, activists, and criminal justice practitioners."—Shana L. Maier, author of Rape, Victims, and Investigations: Experiences and Perceptions of Law Enforcement Officers Responding to Reported Rapes

"Young Larance's vivid and compelling book offers detailed firsthand accounts of how the US criminal legal system collaborates with child protection and victim services to revictimize women charged with use of force in intimate relationships. Beautifully written, Broken mounts a sophisticated yet clear and accessible critique of the system's devastating impact on actual women's lives."—Sarah Jane Brubaker, author of Theorizing Gender Violence

"Young Larance has written an important book that highlights how our institutions often make trauma worse, not better. She unpacks the ways that many systems—Child Protective Services, probation, and others—force people into boxes that don't account for the complexities of their lived experiences and thus end up as another source of trauma. Young Larance's stories also show how high turnover, poor training, and inconsistent recordkeeping in these systems contribute to institutional harms. A readable book with vivid portrayals of women affected by intimate and institutional harm, Broken ends with a call to action to change our systems for the better. This book will be useful to students and anyone who works with systems-involved women."—Sherry Hamby, Distinguished Research Professor of Psychology, University of the South, and Director, Life Paths Research Center