RESTORATIVE & TRANSFORMATIVE JUSTICE

What are restorative and transformative justice? This is what we’ll unpack this week!

AS A STARTING POINT, YOU MIGHT THINK ABOUT DISENTANGLING DIFFERENT APPROACHES TO JUSTICE.

–Punitive justice: This is the model of justice represented by our criminal legal system. Someone commits a crime, and they are punished for that crime by the state. The two primary parties involved in justice processes are the state and the person who stole the bread. (You stole a loaf of bread. You committed a crime by violating a law. You will be punished for breaking the law).

-Restorative justice (RJ): This model of justice focuses less on the violation of law, and more on the harm. Someone commits a harm, and accountability means they take steps to address that harm based on steps determined by the person who was harmed. The goal is to try to restore some of the conditions, and respond to victim needs (e.g. need for apology, for space, for restitution, for resources), rather than just the state’s focus on punishment. This model of justice may or may not be facilitated by the state. (You stole a loaf of bread. That created a harm to the bakery owner who lost the money, felt the security of their shop violated, was hurt by the violation of trust, etc. You will work to be accountable for that harm, including by taking steps determined by bakery to help restore conditions.)

–Transformative justice (TJ): This model of justice takes restorative justice a step further to say that we also need examine and transform the conditions that enabled the harm to happen, and work collectively as a community to transform those systems so that the harm won’t happen again. This means distributing accountability more. This model of justice is generally in opposition to the state and the criminal legal system, proceeding from the knowledge that our system of police and prisons reproduces harm, particularly for those most marginalized (BIPOC folks, queer and trans folks, sex workers, the disabled, the poor and unhoused, immigrants, and so on). It is premised on dealing with harm without relying on police and prisons to solve social problems–and thus, it also tends to align with ideas of prison/police abolition. It takes an intersectional approach that believes in the need for systemic change to structures of capitalism, white supremacy, ableism, homophobia and transphobia, and more. (You stole a loaf of bread. That created a harm to the bakery owner who lost the money, felt the security of their shop violated, was hurt by the violation of trust, etc. You will work to be accountable for that harm. However, in the process, those involves in TJ–victims, harm doers, facilitators, community members–will also need to ask why that harm happened. Do you not have access to food? Why not? What steps can be taken to address the underlying reasons you stole the bread so that you don’t do it again? TJ won’t turn to the police/prisons to punish you, but it will take other steps to facilitate accountability from you, and justice/care for the victim).

This is a rough sketch of RJ and TJ (as contrasts to punitive justice), but there is a lot to say and learn about what this means in practice, and how we can start down the process of building and imagining something new and fundamentally different than what we have right now.

CONTENT WARNING:

Some of your videos will deal with how survivors of violence (including sexual/domestic violence/childhood sexual abuse) imagine accountability and navigate harm. I have indicated the ones that most directly address this, and leave it to you to decide if there are some of the videos you can’t engage because of the content.

This is the way that these themes are addressed, and why they come up in the material about RJ and TJ:

The work of transformative justice (TJ) in particular has often been done, pioneered, and led by those experiencing physical and sexual violence–in particular those who occupy intersecting forms of marginalization (e.g. race, ability, etc). For example, many of the folks in the videos below have written/spoken about how their experiences as survivors of violence was the starting point for their work in TJ. They describe how the state created more harm for them/their communities (e.g. the trauma of going through the criminal legal system), or how police were never a safe or viable option for them to seek justice (e.g. sex workers, undocumented, BIPOC don’t feel safe calling police). This experience of survivorhood is an important lineage in TJ work.

However, on the other hand, conversations about RJ/TJ often come back to these serious forms of violence. People inevitably want to know how TJ will address them–What would justice and accountability look like sexual assault outside of police/prisons? Without police, what would we do with perpetrators of serious violence? These are hard questions, and it’s understandable that engaging in discussion about theme can be triggering, so I trust you to take steps back if/when you need to.

Please know this content warning carries over for our in-person discussion too. I want you to be aware that (while they won’t be the singular focus of class) the questions and dilemmas will arise in the videos, will likely also arise in class discussion about TJ.

ASSIGNED MATERIALS

I thought it’d be nice to give you a mental change of pace by assigning videos today–almost all of them coming from a video series with key leaders in TJ. As you’re watching the videos, just keep a notepad (or the Moodle journal open). For your journal, I will ask you to jot down a quick reaction/idea you had based on each video. The goal of this is to help you draw out some main themes as you’re watching.

This add up to about an hour and 20 minutes of video.

Video 1: An Example of Restorative Justice

Video 2: What a world without prisons could look like

Video 3: What is Transformative Justice?

Video 4: The Modern Roots of Transformative Justice (**content warning: organizing against sexual and domestic violence)

Video 5: What Does Justice Look Like for Survivors? (**content warning for discussion of childhood sexual assault, sexual assault, and domestic violence)

Video 6: Everyday Practices of Transformative Justice

Video 7: Centering the Needs of Survivors 1 (**content warning: this video and Video 7 deal with survivor experiences of violence)

Video 8: Centering the Needs of Survivors 2

JOURNALS

As I said above, as you’re watching the videos, keep a notepad (or the Moodle journal) open. As you’re watching just jot down a quick reaction/idea you had based on each video. The goal of this is to help you draw out some main themes as you’re watching, which you can then revisit as we talk together.

Then pose one (or more) questions you are thinking through and would like to discuss.

Powerpoint