title: "No matter what has been done wrong can always be redone right": spirituality in the lives of imprisoned battered women.
abstract: In this article, the authors explore the religious and spiritual experiences and beliefs of incarcerated battered women who killed abusive intimate partners or (step)fathers. Through in-depth interviews with 12 imprisoned battered women, the authors examine the role that religion and spirituality played in the women's lives before and during their incarceration. Regardless of their religious upbringing, most had what they described as spiritual experiences during their time in prison. For them, participation in the support group for battered women and their spiritual experiences "freed them" by giving them a way to reconstruct and reinterpret their victimization, perpetration of violence, and subsequent incarceration.
authors.affiliation: University of Akron, USA.
authors.forename: Rachel Zimmer
authors.initials: RZ
authors.lastname: Schneider
authors.forename: Kathryn M
authors.initials: KM
authors.lastname: Feltey
mesh_terms: D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000328:Adult; D000739:Anecdotes as Topic; D018585:Battered Women / Q000523:psychology*; D019548:Crime Victims / Q000523:psychology*; D029221:Faith Healing / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D010327:Pastoral Care / Q000379:methods; D011329:Prisoners / Q000523:psychology*; D029181:Spirituality; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D016387:Women's Health