Transformative Justice: Why it Matters in our Everyday Lives
Trigger Warning: Mention of S*xual Abuse
I could begin this article by listing all of the statistics that show you how many people are currently behind bars in the United States. I would then tell you that these people are disproportionately Black and Latinx, and that many of them are incarcerated for offenses that criminal justice advocates have deemed “not too bad,” such as those related to drug offenses or substance abuse. And, that most of these people come from low-income and impoverished backgrounds and have faced some form of abuse in their lives.
But these all are things we already know. They also matter. But a lot of times rattling off all of this information to show you that mass incarceration is a problem today implies that it is only a problem because it is mass, when in reality, incarceration is a problem no matter the scale. Incarceration is a problem for even those convicted of crimes that we as a society might deem violent, like assault, murder, or armed robbery.
When criminal justice advocates only focus on those they deem innocent, like substance users, those with non-violent convictions--children, men, women, or those who have been wrongly convicted--sometimes imply that everyone who does not fit within that category deserves to be in prison. Abolitionist scholar Ruth Wilson Gilmore calls this “the problem of innocence”. Further, this is an issue as notions of criminality and innocence are very much racialized. Prisons do not remedy harm or violence, but instead perpetuate it. In fact, Mariame Kaba labeled prisons “death-making institutions”. Suicide rates in state prisons are higher than ever and sexual abuse and murder still occur behind bars. Guards are notorious for sexually abusing inmates and using their power to intimidate and harass them. They act as a tool of control for the carceral state to lockup marginalized members of society instead of dealing with the circumstances that lead to these people’s marginalization begin with, like poverty, racism, and gender inequality.
Harm and violence are bound to occur, especially in our current society where many of our basic needs are not even close to being met by the state. So what do we do about this harm without locking people in cages and subjecting them to the police? This is where transformative justice comes in. Transformative justice is a community-driven process of accountability that looks outside of the state to remedy harm. “Transformative justice…seeks safety and accountability without relying on alienation, punishment, or State or systemic violence, including incarceration or policing”, as defined by Generation 5, a nonprofit working to end child sexual abuse in 5 generations. They provide one of the earliest models of what transformative justice looks like.
Transformative justice can look different depending on the context and I certainly cannot cover all of its forms and specifics in this piece. But it typically involves facilitating conversations between the survivor, perpetrator of harm, a mediator, and community members. Rather than alienating or immediately punishing the perpetrator, the process includes working with that person to take accountability for the harm they have caused. It also involves providing immediate support for the survivor and working through what happened to them through trauma-informed care. Additionally, it involves working to understand what accountability and healing looks like to them. Transformative justice involves community members and building their capacities to support the healing process and take accountability for any harm they were complicit in. This includes building the skills needed to prevent further harm and interrupt violence when it occurs. Transformative justice ultimately understands that harm often stems from marginalization and conditions that have been brought upon by the state.
Transformative justice is a way to move past incarceration, but we can also practice it in our everyday lives and our interpersonal relationships. Transformative justice practices are a powerful way to build stronger communities without relying on the state. One way we can do this is by being unafraid of conflict. This is something I used to honestly with, and I know is something that many of my female peers have experienced in a society where we are taught it is cooler to just “be chill” or to not make everything “a big deal.” But we prevent “big deals” from happening by learning to address situations in which we feel wronged or mistreated. We have to move past the mindset that conflict is inherently bad. We can confront our friends, family, and community members in ways that are assertive but also hold space for love and compassion. Another way in which we can practice transformative justice and abolition in our everyday lives is by letting go of punitive practices. We can still be assertive and hold people accountable while reminding ourselves that everyone is human, and that we all make mistakes.
I think one of the most powerful ways in which we can practice all of these things is by practicing with ourselves. Give yourself some grace and stop punishing yourself. Learn to reflect on situations where maybe you caused harm. Let go of individualism and think about the larger systems or circumstances that might lead you and others to act in certain ways that might be harmful. What are the skills you need to help prevent, heal from, and take accountability for harm? How can you work with others to build these skills? At the end of the day, these are just words and concepts that describe actions that many of our Black, Indigenous, immigrant, low-income, LGBTQ+, and other marginalized communities have long been doing. But we will never be free until we all use these practices, at a systemic level and in our everyday lives.
