We wanted to share these resources and examples of Transformative Justice to amplify the existence of and need for anti-violence infrastructures that don’t replicate or rely on the state to address community safety. API Chaya and Shalom Bayit are two organizations that seek to end gender-based violence within their respective communities through community accountability and survivor-focused healing.
We have learned that there are many ways of understanding what justice and safety can look like without police and prisons, and we would love for you all to share any resources, projects, and learnings that you may have come across! DM us on social media and we’ll add it to our Medium post.
What is transformative justice?
“A political framework and approach for responding to violence, harm, and abuse” that “seeks to respond to violence without creating more violence and/or engaging in harm reduction to lessen the violence.”
— transformharm.org
Rather than relying on the state (e.g. police, prisons, criminal justice system, I.C.E., foster care system), with the understanding that these systems were created in order to maintain social control through violence, transformative justice seeks to actively cultivate violence prevention measures such as healing, accountability, resilience, and safety for all involved.
What are the key components of Transformative Justice?
Trauma-informed and Survivor-focused Healing
According to API Chaya, meeting the various needs that might arise for someone experiencing crisis could involve anything from providing survivors trauma-informed therapy, providing care packages to survivors, creating QTBIPOC spaces for grief, connecting survivors to legal and social services, etc. API Chaya meets the various needs that might arise for someone experiencing crisis through providing survivors trauma-informed therapy, providing care packages to survivors, creating QTBIPOC spaces for grief, connecting survivors to legal and social services, etc.
Community Accountability and Collective Action
Shalom Bayit works with synagogues to implement a community accountability model that asks congregational leadership to support a teshuvah, which is a repentance process that encourages those who have abused to admit wrongdoing, respect safety plans, and take responsibility for their actions. This requires that the person who has abused:
- relinquish leadership positions in the synagogue
- not attend services or events that the survivor attends
- acknowledge that their behavior involved a misuse of power, etc.
Shalom Bayit’s policies also require rabbis and other synagogue leadership to integrate education about intimate partner violence into religious services to address and prevent abuse within the community. [4]
Recognizing Cultural Differences
API Chaya’s Natural Helpers Program links people experiencing domestic and sexual violence and human trafficking to bilingual outreach volunteers. The volunteers, who are hair stylists, lawyers, faith leaders, business owners, doctors, etc. are trained to understand the barriers that API communities face in obtaining services and seek out assistance for families and individuals in need.
Where can I get more information?
- Critical Resistance resources for addressing harm, accountability, and healing (Community Accountability toolkits, reports, guides, zines, curricula, etc.)
- Building Accountable Communities video series with transformative justice practitioners (History of Transformative Justice, What is Accountability, Centering the Needs of Survivors, etc.)
Sources
“Transformative Justice: A Brief Description”. TransformHarm.org. 23 July 2020.
Obert, Jonathan. “Vigilantism, again in the news, is an American tradition”. The Conversation. 9 July 2020.
“What does Transformative Justice look like? Survivor-focused, Trauma-informed, & Community Accountability to ending Sexual Violence”. ValorUS. 13 April 2017.
“Organizing for Community Accountability”. Incite National. August 2018.
“How community accountability can help prevent intimate partner violence in the first place”. Prevention Institute. 4 April 2018.
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Written by Niveda Tennety. Design by Sabeen Shalwani.
