Victoria Law, familiarly known as Vikki Law, is an American anarchist activist, prison abolitionist, writer, freelance editor, and photographer. Her books are Resistance Behind Bars: The Struggles of Incarcerated Women (2009, 2012), Don't Leave Your Friends Behind: Concrete Ways to Support Families in Social Justice Movements and Communities (edited with China Martens, 2012), Prison by Any Other Name: The Harmful Consequences of Popular Reforms (co-authored by Maya Schenwar, 2020), and Prisons Make Us Safer: And 20 Other Myths about Mass Incarceration (2021). Corridors of Contagion: Now the Pandemic Exposed the Cruelties of Incarceration (2024).
Victoria Law | |
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 Victoria Law at an ABC No Rio Halloween open house | |
| Born | Jamaica, Queens, New York City |
| Occupation |
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| Nationality | American |
| Alma mater | Brooklyn College |
| Notable works | Resistance Behind Bars: The Struggles of Incarcerated Women |
| Website | |
| victorialaw | |
Background and education
editVictoria Law is of Chinese descent and was born and raised in Queens, New York. As an A student in high school, she committed armed robbery to initiate herself into a Chinatown gang but was given probation as a first offense.[1] Her exposure to incarcerated people at Rikers Island prompted her to get involved in prison support.[2][3]
Career
editLaw continued fighting for prison abolition, co-founding Books Through Bars NYC, a books-to-prisoners organization, as a joint project between Blackout Books and Nightcrawlers Anarchist Black Cross in 1996 at the age of nineteen.[4] In 2003, at the prompting of women incarcerated in an Oregon prison, she launched the zine Tenacious: Art and Writing from Women in Prison.[5] In 2009, after a decade of researching and writing about incarcerated women in the United States, Law published her first monograph with PM Press, Resistance Behind Bars: The Struggles Of Incarcerated Women, with a second edition released in 2012.[6] She is a frequent invited speaker, especially since publishing the first edition of Resistance Behind Bars.[7]
Law works with Books Through Bars (now located at Freebird Bookstore[8] in Brooklyn). She has participated in many of ABC No Rio's projects, including its Visual Arts Collective and the darkroom that she co-founded and co-built. She has had tangential involvement in the punk collective, as well, and was the primary caregiver of the art and activist space's last remaining squatter, Cookiepuss (1996–2013), a calico cat.[9]
In her twenties, after having a child, Law's activism began to include raising awareness of parents in anarchist communities' need for solidarity, including free childcare activities at events and protests. Together with long-time mamazine maker China Martens, Law began doing workshops and editing compilation zines about parenting for activists and their allies, called Don't Leave Your Friends Behind. The two eventually co-edited a book by the same name, also published by PM Press.[10] As her child got older and Law engaged with the literature her child read, Law began to focus attention on the lack of racial diversity in young adult fiction, including writing a series of blog posts on girls of color in dystopia for Bitch Media.[11]
Selected works
editBooks
edit- Corridors of Contagion: How the Pandemic Exposed the Cruelties of Incarceration, Haymarket Books, 2024[12]
- Prisons Make Us Safer: And 20 Other Myths about Mass Incarceration, Beacon Press, 2021[13]
- Prison by Any Other Name: The Harmful Consequences of Popular Reforms. The New Press, 2020. Co-authored by Maya Schenwar[14]
- Resistance Behind Bars: The Struggles of Incarcerated Women, PM Press, 2012, 2009[15]
- Don't Leave Your Friends Behind: Concrete Ways to Support Families in Social Justice Movements and Communities, PM Press, 2012. Edited with China Martens[16]
- Corridors of Contagion: How the Pandemic Exposed the Cruelties of Incarceration, Haymarket Books, 2024.[17]
Zines
editIn addition to many zines she has authored or edited:[18]
- Tenacious: Art & Writing from Women in Prison, 2003–2020, editor[19]
- Nefarious Doings series, about travel in Hong Kong and South Africa, 2006[20]
- Tell Me About the First Time You Came to ABC No Rio[21]
- Mamazines, contributor[22]
Articles, blog posts and web articles
editIn addition to print articles about gender, incarceration and resistance,[23] she is a regular contributor to online news and culture venues, including Bolts,[24] The Nation,[25] and Truthout,[26] among others.
Awards
editReferences
edit- ^ Bennett, Hans (July 21, 2009). "Beyond Attica: The Untold Story of Women's Resistance Behind Bars". AlterNet. Retrieved March 27, 2021.
- ^ "The untold story of women's resistance behind bars". www.workers.org. Retrieved September 12, 2020.
- ^ "Vikki Law". Mask Magazine. Retrieved September 12, 2020.
- ^ Kimball, Whitney (September 5, 2012). "The ABC No Rio Interviews: Vikki Law". Art F City. Retrieved May 20, 2018.
- ^ Chidgey, Red; Zobl, Elke. "Tenacious: Art and Writing from Women in Prison. An interview with Vikki Law from New York, United States". Grassroots Feminism. Retrieved May 20, 2018.
- ^ Law, Victoria (2012). Resistance Behind Bars: the struggles of incarcerated women (2nd ed.). Oakland: PM Press. ISBN 9781604865837. OCLC 878836279.
- ^ Law, Victoria. "Events". Resistance Behind Bars. Retrieved May 20, 2018.
- ^ "Volunteer at Books Through Bars". Freebird Books. Retrieved May 20, 2018.
- ^ Vidani, Peter. "Cookiepuss: RIP much loved ABC No Rio cat". ABC No Rio. Retrieved May 20, 2018.
- ^ Law, Vikki; Martens, China (2012). Don't leave your friends behind: concrete ways to support families in social justice movements and communities. Oakland: PM Press. ISBN 9781604867978. OCLC 815480102.
- ^ Law, Victoria (March 22, 2013). "Do Girls of Color Survive Dystopia?". Bitch Media. Retrieved May 20, 2018.
- ^ Law, Victoria. "Corridors of Contagion". haymarketbooks.org. Retrieved July 6, 2024.
- ^ ""Prisons Make Us Safer" by Victoria Law: 9780807029527 | PenguinRandomHouse.com: Books". PenguinRandomhouse.com. Retrieved September 12, 2020.
- ^ "Prison by Any Other Name". The New Press. Retrieved September 12, 2020.
- ^ "Search results for '"resistance behind bars"' > 'Victoria Law'". OCLC. Retrieved May 10, 2014.
- ^ Don't leave your friends behind : concrete ways to support families in social justice movements and communities> 'Victoria Law'. OCLC. OCLC 815480102. Retrieved May 10, 2014.
- ^ Law, Victoria (September 10, 2024). Corridors of Contagion: How the Pandemic Exposed the Cruelties of Incarceration. Haymarket Books. ISBN 9798888902561.
- ^ "Search results for 'su:zines au:law' > 'Vikki Law'". OCLC. Retrieved May 10, 2014.
- ^ Tenacious : art and writings from women in prison. Barnard College Library/Columbia University Libraries. OCLC 62874649. Retrieved May 10, 2014.
- ^ "nefarious vikki law". Barnard College Library/Columbia University Libraries. Retrieved May 10, 2014.
- ^ "Tell me about the first time you came to abc no rio | WorldCat.org". search.worldcat.org. Retrieved November 25, 2024.
- ^ "vikki law mamazines". Barnard College/Columbia University Libraries. Retrieved May 10, 2014.
- ^ "Links to Articles about Gender, Incarceration and Resistance". Victoria Law. Retrieved May 10, 2014.
- ^ "Victoria Law". Bolts. Retrieved July 6, 2024.
- ^ "Victoria Law". The Nation. July 10, 2013. Retrieved January 22, 2022.
- ^ "Health Behind Bars conference program, Fellows Biographies". truthout. Retrieved May 10, 2014.
- ^ "Health Behind Bars, Fellows Biographies" (PDF). John Jay College of Criminal Justice. Retrieved May 10, 2014.
- ^ "2011 Young Alumna Award – Victoria Law '02". Brooklyn College Alumni. Retrieved May 10, 2014.
- ^ "2009 PASS Award Winners" (PDF). National Council on Crime and Delinquency. Retrieved May 10, 2014.