Now We Have Nothing: Exploring the Impact of Maternal Imprisonment on Children Whose Mothers Killed an Abusive Partner

This study looks to reveal that long-term imprisonment for a mother who has killed her abusive partner is not in her children's best interests. To substantiate this the report explains and demonstrates the complex and serious consequences for children who live in the context of domestic violence, whose fathers are killed by their mothers, and who subsequently lose their mothers to long-term imprisonment. The study draws on the life experiences of 16 children whose mothers are serving long prison sentences at Johannesburg Central Prison for killing their partners.