The (De)Valuation of Black Women's Bodies
![handle is hein.journals/hwlj44 and id is 345 raw text is: THE (DE)VALUATION OF BLACK WOMEN'S BODIES
BRIANNA N. BANKS*
ABSTRACT
In recent years, the tragic stories of Chrystul Kizer and Cyntoia Brown have
entered the national stage. Their stories, and many others, have brought the
devaluation of Black and brown women's bodies in the criminal justice sys-
tem to the forefront of American discourse. Through their stories, this paper
analyzes Black women's place in society from a historical and sociological
perspective. With the rise of media attention on longstanding injustices af-
fecting the Black community, it appears that societal discourse is evolving.
However, to move forward, we must first understand the social framework
that currently exists. The main objective of this paper is to provide historical
context and illustrate how the criminal justice system continually hypersexu-
alizes and devalues Black women's bodies. Despite the facially race-neutral
language of criminal justice statutes, many laws do not consider Black wo-
men's various intersectional identities. Ultimately, these laws cannot ade-
quately protect Black women. I finally posit that, to truly succeed in
achieving a criminal justice system that protects all victims, any reform ef-
forts must be led by Black women themselves.
Introduction .................................................... 329
Part I: Origins in Slavery ......................................: 332
Part II: Post-Slavery: The Black Woman as Jezebel................ 338
Part III: The Failure of Laws to Protect the Black Women Who
Need Them M ost ........................................ 348
Conclusion ..................................................... 362
INTRODUCTION
In June 2018, seventeen-year-old Chrystul Kizer allegedly shot and
killed the man who had been trafficking her for a year.1 She was subse-
quently arrested and charged with first-degree intentional homicide.2 If con-
* J.D. Candidate, Harvard Law School, 2022; B.A., Emory University, 2017. Many
thanks to Diane Rosenfeld and the team at Legal Momentum: Lynn Hecht Schafran,
Jennifer Becker, Tig Ting Cheng, and Seher Khawaja. I am grateful to you all for your
inspiration, comments, and feedback on this piece. Thank you as well to the editors of the
Harvard Journal of Law and Gender. This note is dedicated to the inherent value,
strength, and resilience of Chrystul Kizer and Cyntoia Brown.
1 See Jessica Contrera, He was Sexually Abusing Underage Girls. Then, Police Said,
One of Them Killed Him, WASH. PosT (Dec. 17, 2019), https://www.washingtonpost.com/
graphics/2019/local/child-sex-trafficking-murder/ [https://perma.cc/MD4X-5DPH].
2 Id.](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.journals/hwlj44&div=14&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)
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The (De)Valuation of Black Women's Bodies
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