Film Screening and Panel Discussion on Domestic Violence Law Showcase the Power of Grassroots Advocacy

Collective action can lead to meaningful change. That was the message conveyed in a film shown on the Vassar campus on November 3 about a battle for sentencing reform in New York’s criminal justice system. More than than 120 students, faculty, and administrators, as well as members of the local community, viewed the screening of Beyond Survival, which told the story of the decade-long campaign that led to the passage of the Domestic Violence Survivors Justice Act (DVSJA).

The groundbreaking law gives judges the discretion to impose lower sentences to survivors of domestic violence who can establish that their abuse was a significant factor leading to their offense. The new law was applied in a case involving Dutchess County resident Nicole Addimando, a former Vassar employee who was convicted of second-degree murder for fatally shooting her abuser in 2017. Addimando was initially sentenced to 15 years to life in prison, but an appellate court reduced the sentence to 7½ years, less than the state minimum for such a crime, and she was released from prison in 2024.

The screening was followed by a panel discussion led by Rachel Gellert, Director of Vassar’s Office of Support, Advocacy, & Violence Prevention (SAVP). Panelists were Michelle Horton, Nicole Addimando’s sister; Kate Mogulescu, Legal and Policy Director of the Survivors Justice Project (SJP), an advocacy group that was involved in urging state legislators to adopt the new law; and Judith Clark, who was formerly incarcerated and is now Director of the Survivors Justice Project.

Gellert said she was particularly moved by a comment Clark made following the screening. “Judy [said] that one of our important tasks as a society is to release our idea of ‘good’ and ‘bad’ people—to challenge these conceptions and the ways in which this binary thinking can lead us to replicating the same carceral cycles of power that we are committed to fighting against.”

“This also shifts issues of sexual violence and relationship abuse from ‘a thing bad people do’ to a societal problem that we all need to take responsibility for,” she added.

The film contains interviews with legislators, judges, and advocates, including several survivors of long-term abuse, some of whom had their sentences reduced under DVSJA guidelines. The film opens with clips of a legislative hearing in 1985 at Bedford Hills Correctional Facility, a women’s prison in Westchester County, NY, where the first testimony calling for such sentencing reform was heard. During that hearing and throughout the film, incarcerated and previously incarcerated women told their stories about the physical, mental, and emotional abuse they had endured. It wasn’t until 2011 that the DVSJA bill was first introduced in the state Assembly, and it was passed and signed into law eight years later. To date, 78 women have been released from prison as a result of the law.

Clark said the law’s passage came about only because of the sustained efforts of both formerly and currently incarcerated women. She said the campaign for reform “was led by women who were willing come forward and translate abstract legal concepts into real stories.”

Commenting on the film after its showing, Mogulescu said that while it is important to celebrate these victories, “perhaps we are glossing over the struggle it takes to go through the DVSJA process.” She said some prosecutors, defense attorneys, and judges still seem to be unaware of the law, so it is up to organizations like SJP to raise awareness about it.

Horton noted that the sentencing judge in her sister’s case, Dutchess County Court Judge Edward McLoughlin, had initially ruled that the DVSJA did not apply in the case, but an appeals court overruled him. Horton and others campaigned against McLoughlin in this year’s election, and he was defeated.

Wendy Freedman, Director of Vassar’s Counseling Service, was one of several College officials who arranged for the film and the panel discussion to take place. Freedman, who was part of a devoted group advocating for Addimando’s release over the course of years, said she was moved by the message of the film and the positive reaction it received from the Vassar community. “I continue to be moved by the way people who have experienced such unbearable traumas have the courage and resilience to share their experiences with others and to fight for the safety and well-being of other survivors,” Freedman said. “Progress is not an overnight affair, and requires sustained, persistent advocacy, often over years or decades. To maintain this steady movement, collaboration and shared community efforts is critical. It is important to remember that although societal problems, such as the incarceration of survivors, often seem too big and complex to address, when we find passionate people who care about the same causes and work together in community over time, we can really make a difference.”

Gellert said she had engaged in discussions with several students who attended the event. “They also highlighted that it was very impactful to see the various ways that individual people can create change,” she said. “The stories told throughout the film and by the panelists provided specific examples that change is possible. While the work is almost never done, each step along the way matters, and the power of people coming together in care and passion and commitment holds so much potential to envision a better world.”