How recognizing the systems within us allows us to create systems change.
Transformative Justice (TJ) is a political framework and approach for responding to violence, harm and abuse. It seeks to respond to violence without creating more violence and/or engaging in harm reduction to lessen the violence. Addressing the root causes of violence and harm allows for a focus on rehabilitation, healing, and accountability, rather than punishment.
Abolition framework
Created by and for communities
Does not solely rely on the state
Transformative justice is about systems change -- system change in your own life so that it may transform systems and structures around you, or build up something entirely new. To do so, we must recognize the systems within us, as they are so ingrained it often feels that they have always been a part of us -- the systems live within us.
So, for change to happen, we need to know that what is happening between us interpersonally is enshrining, maintaining, protecting, and ensuring the continuance of the current systems in place built on oppression.
"Real accountability calls us to respond to harm that occurs because the person responsible was struggling with mental illness by providing high-quality treatment. If violence emerged because of poverty and desperation, then creating survivable conditions might prevent future harm. If violence originated because of unexamined misogyny or sexism learned in the family or broader culture, a community process that invites the person responsible to examine that would be more likely to lead to a positive outcome than incarceration in a cell, where the person is likely to experience more violence.” -- Mariame Kaba
This means moving away from our current thinking of punishment over accountability. Transforming the conditions that allow for harm and violence to occur allows for restorative justice to be fulfilled, which focuses on the individual and their relationships. Transformative justice is the starting point.
The purpose of this post is not to convince you to become a police/prison abolitionist, but to open up your mind to the idea that things don't have to stay this way, they can be better. Our current systems condone and perpetuate cycles of violence, so abolitionist thinking explores how to put an end to it. Abolitionists don't necessarily have all the answers, but they are dedicated to implementing better systems than we have now. Most abolitionists would not disagree that there is a need to maintain some system to protect society from the most dangerous of criminals. However, the carceral system as the default form of punishment for those who break the law fails us all.
Punishment is done to people, but accountability is done with people. Punishment does not require any active engagement, but accountability requires 5 key elements:
(1) Acknowledging one’s responsibility for one’s actions
(2) Acknowledging the impact of one’s actions on others
(3) Expressing genuine remorse
(4) Taking actions to repair the harm to the degree possible
(5) No longer committing similar harm
What are the components of community accountability?
What does TJ look like in practice?
A truly transformative justice would mean that a single survivor coming forward to tell their tale of harm years ago would actually have been believed (the first time). We would immediately focus on addressing the harms perpetrated, centering on the concerns and experiences of the person who was harmed. Next, we would also focus on the person responsible for the harm — but without disregarding his or her humanity. This means we have to acknowledge the reality that often it is hurt people who hurt other people.
Understanding that harm originates from situations dominated by stress, scarcity, and oppression, one way to prevent violence is to make sure that people have support to get the things they need. We must also create a culture that enables people to actually take accountability for violence and harm.
The criminal punishment system promises accountability for violence, but we know that in actuality it is a form of targeted violence against poor people, people with disabilities, and people of color, and doesn’t reduce violence in our society.
"No one enters violence for the first time by committing it." -- Danielle Sered |
References
Hayes, C. (2019). Thinking about how to abolish prisons with Mariame Kaba: Podcast & transcript. Retrieved from https://www.nbcnews.com/think/opinion/thinking-about-how-abolish-prisons-mariame-kaba-podcast-transcript-ncna992721
Hayes, K., & Kaba, M. (2018). The sentencing of Larry Nassar was not 'transformative justice.' Here's why. Retrieved from https://theappeal.org/the-sentencing-of-larry-nassar-was-not-transformative-justice-here-s-why-a2ea323a6645/
Kaba, M. (2021). We do this 'til we free us: Abolitionist organizing and transforming justice. Haymarket Books.
Mingus. M. (2018). Transformative justice: A brief description. TransformHarm.org. Retrieved from https://transformharm.org/transformative-justice-a-brief-description/
Reeve, L. C. (2020). How can advocates better understand Transformative Justice and its connection to gender-based violence intervention and prevention work? Retrieved from https://vawnet.org/news/how-can-advocates-better-understand-transformative-justice-and-its-connection-gender-based
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