UC Irvine Initiative to End Family Violence Survivor Speaker Keynote

Life or Death, Freedom or Prison: The Criminalization of Domestic Violence Survivors
Marissa Alexander

With introductory remarks by UCI Law Dean L. Song Richardson

Wednesday, October 3, 2018
4:00–5:30 p.m.
Followed by a light reception
UCI Student Center, Pacific Ballroom C
This event is free and open to the public.
Parking is $10 at the Student Center Parking Structure.

Marissa Alexander is a domestic violence survivor from Florida who was sentenced to 20 years in prison for firing a warning shot to prevent a repeat attack by her husband who had threatened to kill her. Civil rights leaders, anti-domestic violence advocates, and others around the nation called for Alexander’s release from prison and contrasted her conviction with George Zimmerman’s acquittal of shooting and killing Trayvon Martin. After Alexander served three years behind bars and two years of in-home detention, she was released in January 2017. Free, she now travels the country to provide insights about the dilemma domestic violence victims face: endure abuse and risk their lives or defend themselves and risk their freedom.

At UCI, she will share reflections on the criminalization of domestic violence survivors, drawing on her experience with the criminal justice system’s rejection of her “Stand Your Ground” defense, her incarceration, the post-conviction impact on her family, and her reentry into society and newfound advocacy work.

REGISTER.