A generous grant from the Jewish Women’s Foundation will allow Unchained to continue helping women and girls leave or resist arranged/forced marriages.
Details here.
Unchained’s founder and executive director, Fraidy Reiss, was featured today on NPR’s Sunday Conversation with Rachel Martin.
Fraidy talked about how she entered an arranged marriage when she was 19, only to find out a week after her wedding that her husband was violent. She described being trapped in her abusive marriage for 12 years before she managed to earn a college degree at age 32 and leave with her two daughters — a process that led her family to declare her dead. And she explained how her experience motivated her to found Unchained At Last and help other women and girls avoid or leave arranged/forced marriages.
If you missed it, or if you want to hear it again, click here.
The New Jersey Senate today unanimously approved Unchained’s bill, which helps domestic violence survivors and all crime victims.
The New Jersey Assembly already approved the bill in May, so the measure now heads to the governor’s desk. The governor has 45 days to sign it into law — and you can help make that happen. Details below.
About the Bill
Domestic violence survivors in New Jersey who ask a judge for a final restraining order typically need to prove they have been subjected to a pattern of abuse that is likely to recur. The best way for them to prove that pattern is to show copies of the prior temporary restraining orders they have obtained against their abusers and the accompanying police reports.
However, currently crime victims must pay for their own crime records. This is an unfair and unnecessary burden.
Also, a victim’s request for crime records itself becomes a public record that nearly anyone, including the perpetrator, can access. This obviously can put a victim in additional danger.
Unchained’s bill, S1524/A1676, therefore says that:
Click here for details about S1524/A1676.
Your Help Needed
You can help turn this bill into law. Please email Gov. Chris Christie or call him at (609) 292-6000 and urge him to sign it. And if you have not already done so, show your support by signing Unchained’s petition on change.org.
If you want to help get similar legislation passed in another state, contact Unchained.
Congratulations are in order. The New Jersey Assembly today unanimously approved A1676, the bill Unchained wrote to help domestic violence survivors and all crime victims.
The bill is now waiting for a vote from the New Jersey Senate.
Click here for details about S1524/A1676 and to follow its progress through the New Jersey legislature.
The New Jersey Senate Budget & Appropriations Committee voted unanimously today to approve S1524, which now will go to the floor of the Senate for a vote.
A special thank you to Linda Baum of the New Jersey Foundation for Open Government, who attended the hearing with Unchained At Last’s executive director to show support for the bill.
Click here for details about S1524/A1676 and to follow its progress through the New Jersey legislature.
Unchained testified today before the New Jersey Assembly Appropriations Committee to explain the importance of S1524/A1676, the legislation Unchained wrote to help domestic violence survivors and all crime victims.
A special thank you to Sue Flynn of New Jersey Junior League’s State Public Affairs Committee and Linda Baum of New Jersey Foundation for Open Government, who also testified today in favor of the bill.
After hearing the testimony, the committee voted unanimously to approve the bill.
Click here for details about S1524/A1676 and to follow its progress through the New Jersey legislature.
Unchained testified today before the New Jersey Senate State Government Committee to explain the importance of S1524/A1676, the legislation Unchained wrote to help domestic violence survivors and all crime victims.
A special thank you to Mary Jackson of New Jersey Junior League’s State Public Affairs Committee and Maureen Nevin of New Jersey Foundation for Open Government, who also testified today in favor of the bill.
After hearing the testimony, the committee voted unanimously to approve the bill, and it was referred to the Senate Budget & Appropriations Committee.
Click here for details about S1524/A1676 and to follow its progress through the New Jersey legislature.
Unchained’s founder/executive director, Fraidy Reiss, appeared on the Leonard Lopate Show on WNYC to discuss arranged marriage. If you missed it — or want to hear it again — you can listen to it here.
Fraidy Reiss, Unchained’s founder and executive director, presented a national webinar about arranged/forced marriage in the Orthodox Jewish community — as part of the National Network to Prevent Forced Marriage webinar series hosted by the Tahirih Justice Center, a nonprofit dedicated to protecting immigrant women and girls fleeing violence.
Information about Tahirih and the webinar series is at www.tahirih.org.
Two of the bikers visited Fraidy to discuss arranged/forced marriage in the Orthodox Jewish community. See for yourself by clicking on the picture below:
