Share the story of what Open Access means to you
![a graphic of a lock that is open, the universal logo for open access](/assets/oa-lock-logo-lg-a95dd8d9f9fe5e21ab4499ffd0c8661e55f7d788ae0a03f19a6749eb82e3e899.png)
University of Michigan needs your feedback to better understand how readers are using openly available ebooks. You can help by taking a short, privacy-friendly survey.
For Dear Life: Women's Decriminalization and Human Rights in Focus
Carol JacobsenFor Dear Life chronicles feminist and artist Carol Jacobsen's deep commitment to the causes of justice and human rights, and focuses a critical lens on an American criminal-legal regime that imparts racist, gendered, and classist modes of punishment to women lawbreakers. Jacobsen's tireless work with and for women prisoners is charted in this rich assemblage of images and texts that reveal the collective strategies she and the prisoners have employed to receive justice. The book gives evidence that women's lawbreaking is often an effort to survive gender-based violence. The faces, letters, and testimonies of dozens of incarcerated women with whom Jacobsen has worked present a visceral yet politicized chorus of voices against the criminal-legal systems that fail us all. Their voices are joined by those of leading feminist scholars in essays that illuminate the arduous methods of dissent that Jacobsen and the others have employed to win freedom for more than a dozen women sentenced to life imprisonment, and to free many more from torturous prison conditions. The book is a document to Jacobsen's love and lifelong commitment to creating feminist justice and freedom, and to the efficacy of her artistic, legal, and extralegal political actions on behalf of women.
-
Contents
-
Foreword / Lucy R. Lippard
-
Introduction / Carol Jacobsen
-
1. From One Prison ...
-
From One Prison...(1992–95)
-
Essay: Sidonie Smith and Kay Schaffer, "Life Sentences: The Plight of Women Inmates"
-
Violet and Judith (1995)
-
Essay: Lynn D'Orio, "Battered Women's Clemency Project Issues Call for Justice"
-
-
2. Protests and Prostitutes' Rights
-
Prostitutes' Rights (1985–2019)
-
Essay: Carole S. Vance, "Feminist Fundamentalism: Women against Images"
-
Essay: Marjorie Heins, "A Public University's Response to Students' Censorship of an Art Exhibit"
-
Censorious (2005)
-
Courtroom (2019)
-
-
3. Clemency
-
Clemency (1992–99)
-
Essay: Amanda Alexander and Caitlin Mitchell, "Representing Incarcerated Parents"
-
3 on a Life Sentence (1998)
-
Essay: Maryann Wilkinson, "3 on a Life Sentence"
-
-
4. Segregation Unit
-
Segregation Unit (1999–2000)
-
Essay: Ruby Tapia, "As a Human Being, Answer Me!': Jamie Whitcomb's Solitary Demand"
-
-
5. Sentenced
-
Sentenced; Beyond the Fence (2001–4)
-
Essay: Nina Felshin, "Sentenced"
-
Essay: Sally Berger, "Carol Jacobsen: Women's Voices from Behind the Fence"
-
-
6. Conviction
-
Prison Diary (2004–6)
-
Essay: Rebecca Jordan-Young, "Prison Diary"
-
Conviction (2004–6 )
-
Essay: Wendy Kozol, "Conviction"
-
-
7. Files on the History of Justifiable Homicide
-
Justifiable Homicide (2005–11)
-
Essay: Betti-Sue Hertz, "Files on the History of Justifiable Homicide"
-
Nightclub Girl in a Curfew Town (2012)
-
Our First Clemencies (2008–10)
-
-
8. Mistrials
-
Mistrial (2008–11)
-
Essay: Patricia Zimmerman, "Framed/Reframed/Framing: Time Like Zeros"
-
-
9. Life on Trial
-
Life on Trial (2012–18)
-
Essay: Regina Austin, "The Mistrial of Stacy Barker"
-
For Dear Life (2013–17)
-
-
Epilogue
-
Freedom Days
-
Afterword
-
-
Acknowledgments
-
Sources Cited and Recommended for Further Reading
-
Credits
-
Film/Video and Photography Credits
-
News Media Credits
-
-
Essay and Design Contributors
-
Selected Filmography
![](/image-service/hm50ts99t1555713425/full/full/0/default.png)
Citable Link
Published: 2019
Publisher: University of Michigan Press
- 978-0-472-12418-3 (ebook)
- 978-0-472-07392-4 (hardcover)
- 978-0-472-05392-6 (paper)