Professor Kate Mogulescu Shines Light on Pivotal State Law in “Beyond Survival”

When Brooklyn Law School Professor Kate Mogulescu appears in Beyond Survival, a new documentary that tells the tale of the decade-long fight to get the Domestic Violence Survivors Justice Act (DVSJA) enacted in New York State, her voice is one of hope: She is implementing a law that helps domestic violence survivors whose painful pasts contributed to their criminal convictions obtain reduced prison sentences. 

The 2024 documentary, produced by the Women & Justice Project and Kashif Incubator, will be the subject of a screening and panel discussion at the Law School on March 18. (Registration is here.) It examines how the powerful leadership of currently and formerly incarcerated women have helped create systemic change for domestic violence survivors. It also features the legal role played by Mogulescu, who has been a pioneer of implementing the almost six-year-old law practically since its signature ink had dried.  

Alongside a small group of advocates, she cofounded the Survivors Justice Project (SJP) in 2020 and grew it into an interdisciplinary collective of activists, lawyers, researchers, social workers, and students—many of whom are survivors of domestic violence and long-term incarceration. SJP is now a program of the Women & Justice Project, but its work remains the signature project that students in Brooklyn Law School’s Criminal Defense & Advocacy Clinic (CDAC), under the directorship of Mogulescu, focus on.  

The filmmakers, who were initially more zeroed in on the history of organizing that led to the DVSJA, kept coming back to the impact it ultimately had, which led them to Mogulescu and the role that SJP has had in implementing the law ever since its passage. 

“When you see the film, there is a lot of back and forth, because it tells both the story of how this came to be and where we are now,” Mogulescu said. “Through that narrative, we learn about the experience of four individuals who the clinic was fortunate enough to work with. Each had been in prison and were domestic violence survivors and they worked with the clinic under this new law and went through the process of seeking resentencing.” 

Clinic students have brought the first DVSJA cases in many counties across New York State and represented the four survivors who, in the film, share their experiences using the law. Since 2020, the clinic has worked on more than two dozen cases. 

“That includes cases that the students lead, cases where the students co-counsel with defender organizations or practitioners around the state, and cases where I co-counsel with law firms lending pro bono services to represent survivors,” Mogulescu said. 

Not every story has a happy ending, and not every prosecutor or judge is willing to consider the nuances of criminal cases involving people who were abused before committing a crime.  

“There have been some beautiful moments under this law where people not only get out of prison after receiving extreme sentences, but they also find some recognition, some healing in the process,” Mogulescu said. “There are also times when our legal system rips apart survivors who are trying to use and access the law.” 

But a few things are certain: The potential cases abound, with five to 10 incarcerated survivors reaching out to CDAC every week, and Mogulescu and her students are there to help. “There is not one student who has participated in this clinic who has not put everything they can into it,” Mogulescu said.