Home Truth Screening with Jessica Gonzales

We will be screening Home Truth, a documentary chronicling one family’s pursuit of justice, shedding light on how our society responds to domestic violence and how the trauma from domestic violence tragedies can linger throughout generations. – In 1999, Colorado mother Jessica Gonzales experiences every parent’s worst nightmare when her three young daughters are killed after being abducted by their father in violation of a restraining order. Devastated, Jessica files a lawsuit against the police, claiming they did not adequately enforce her restraining order despite her repeated calls for help that night. Determined to make sure her daughters did not die in vain, Jessica pursues her case all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court and an international human rights tribunal, seeking to strengthen legal rights for domestic violence victims. Meanwhile, her relationship with her one-surviving child, her son Jessie, suffers, as he struggles with the tragedy in his own way.

After the screening, Jessica Gonzales and Professor Caroline Bettinger-Lopez will host a Q and A. Professor Caroline Bettinger-Lopez is a Professor of Clinical Legal Education and Director of the Human Rights Clinic at the University of Miami School of Law. She also serves as an Adjunct Senior Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations. From 2015 to 2017 Professor Bettinger-Lopez worked in the Obama Administration, where she served as the White House Advisor on Violence Against Women, a senior advisor to Vice President Joe Biden, and a member of the White House Council on Women and Girls. Jessica Gonzales is an internationally-renowned human rights activist.

Dinner will be served.

Sponsored by: HLS ACLU, HLS American Constitution Society, McLean Hospital’s Center of Excellence in Women’s Mental Health