Transformative Justice
According to Philly Stands Up!, Transformative Justice is a way of practicing alternative justice that acknowledges individual experiences and identities and works to actively resist the state’s criminal injustice system. Transformative Justice recognizes that oppression is at the root of all forms of harm, abuse and assault. As a practice, it therefore aims to address and confront those oppressions on all levels and treats this concept as an integral part to accountability and healing.
From Generation 5: Transformative justice [is] a liberatory approach to violence…[which] seeks safety and accountability without relying on alienation, punishment, or State or systemic violence, including incarceration or policing.
Three core beliefs:
- Individual justice and collective liberation are equally important, mutually supportive, and fundamentally intertwined—the achievement of one is impossible without the achievement of the other.
- The conditions that allow violence to occur must be transformed in order to achieve justice in individual instances of violence. Therefore, Transformative Justice is both a liberating politic and an approach for securing justice.
- State and systemic responses to violence, including the criminal legal system and child welfare agencies, not only fail to advance individual and collective justice but also condone and perpetuate cycles of violence.
Transformative Justice seeks to provide people who experience violence with immediate safety and long-term healing and reparations while holding people who commit violence accountable within and by their communities. This accountability includes stopping immediate abuse, making a commitment to not engage in future abuse, and offering reparations for past abuse. Such accountability requires on-going support and transformative healing for people who sexually abuse.”
Source: Toward Transformative Justice (PDF) by Generation 5
According to Philly Stands Up!, Transformative Justice is a way of practicing alternative justice that acknowledges individual experiences and identities and works to actively resist the state’s criminal injustice system. Transformative Justice recognizes that oppression is at the root of all forms of harm, abuse and assault. As a practice, it therefore aims to address and confront those oppressions on all levels and treats this concept as an integral part to accountability and healing.
From Generation 5: Transformative justice [is] a liberatory approach to violence…[which] seeks safety and accountability without relying on alienation, punishment, or State or systemic violence, including incarceration or policing.
Three core beliefs:
- Individual justice and collective liberation are equally important, mutually supportive, and fundamentally intertwined—the achievement of one is impossible without the achievement of the other.
- The conditions that allow violence to occur must be transformed in order to achieve justice in individual instances of violence. Therefore, Transformative Justice is both a liberating politic and an approach for securing justice.
- State and systemic responses to violence, including the criminal legal system and child welfare agencies, not only fail to advance individual and collective justice but also condone and perpetuate cycles of violence.
Transformative Justice seeks to provide people who experience violence with immediate safety and long-term healing and reparations while holding people who commit violence accountable within and by their communities. This accountability includes stopping immediate abuse, making a commitment to not engage in future abuse, and offering reparations for past abuse. Such accountability requires on-going support and transformative healing for people who sexually abuse.”
Source: Toward Transformative Justice (PDF) by Generation 5
Articles

Transformative Justice Behind the Wall by David “Dawud” Lee and Nyako Pippen
By Imprisoned soul Original Article found here There are perhaps millions of folks currently incarcerated carrying the pain of some form of violence, either as

How Transformative Justice Responds To Violence Without the Carceral System
By REINA SULTAN Original Article found here In the wake of the police killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Rayshard Brooks, protesters have taken

Community Organizers Address Sexual Violence Without the Criminal Justice System
By NICOLE FROIO Original Article found here When college student L. saw photos of her feet in a boy’s Snapchat, she felt scared. She had

NAVIGATING JUSTICE FOR SEXUAL ABUSE SURVIVORS, WHEN YOU’RE A PRISON ABOLITIONIST AND A SURVIVOR
By Joshua Briond*, AFROPUNK Contributor Original Article found here I want to heal. I want to feel safe. I want us, as a society, to

i hope we choose love: notes on the application of justice
By Kai Cheng: Writer & healer. Lasagna lover. Wicked Witch. Author of Fierce Femmes and Notorious Liars, a place called No Homeland, and other books.

We Want a World Without Police. These Organizers Are Charting the Way.
By Victoria Law, TruthOut Photography: Love & Struggle What does working toward a world without prisons look like? How would we address harm without

Transformative Justice: A Brief Description
By Mia Mingus This was written for a transformative justice (TJ) intervention I led and I’m sharing it here for others to use in

What is/isn’t transformative justice?
by Adrienne Maree Brown Original article found here I’ve been thinking a lot about transformative justice lately.In the past few months I’ve been to a couple

Building Community Safety: Practical Steps Toward Liberatory Transformation
by Ejeris Dixon Original article found here Mom, when you were growing up, did you ever call the police? I can’t remember any time that

A LOOK AT FEMINIST FORMS OF JUSTICE THAT DON’T INVOLVE THE POLICE
by Kristian Williams Original article found here This is an excerpt from the book Our Enemies in Blue: Police and Power in America, whose third

Still Choosing to Leap: Building Alternatives
by Mia Mingus Original article found here I am engaged in the work of building transformative justice responses to child sexual abuse with the Bay
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Media
Abolition in Covid-Times
By – Fortification Podcast
Sexual Violence and Transformative Justice in Abolitionist Times
Beyond Survival
By – How To Survive The End Of The World
Feminist Abolition & Transformative Justice: A Conversation
By – Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha and Leila Raven
#WeTakeCareOfUs Webinar #7: Transformative Justice
Justice Teams Network
Liberate Ways of Addressing The Critical Criminologist
Alex Vitale interviews Ejeris Dixon and Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha
Liberate Ways of Addressing Harm
Freedom to Thrive | A webinar conversation with movement leaders.
Resisting Gender Violence Without Cops or Prisons
Victoria Law | Angola 3 News
Philly Stands UP - TRANSFORMATIVE JUSTICE
Jenna Peters Golden | Horizontal Power Hour
Bay Area Transformative Justice Collective
Mia Mingus | Bay Area Transformative Justice
Transformative Justice
By | Zehr Institute for Restorative Justice
The Practices We Need: #metoo and Transformative Justice Part 2
Mariame Kaba | How to Survive the End of the World
Interview with Leah Lakshmi Piepzna Samarasinha
Moving at the Speed of Trust: Disability Justice and Transformative Justice
Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha and Elliott Fukui
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Curriculum

Building Violence Free communities
Building Violence Free Communities
Workshop by | Escuela Popular Norteña

Transformative Justice Curriculum by Project NIA
Transformative Justice - A Curriculum Guide
By | Project NIA

Ending Child Sexual Abuse | Generation Five
Ending Child Sexual Abuse
By | Generation Five

Support New York | Accountability Process Curriculum
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Other Resources | Links
Accountability Process Curriculum
Workshop by | Support New York
Transformative Justice: A List of Resources
By | Prison Culture
A List of Readings & Media
Socialist Feminist Working Group: Transformative Justice Syllabus
What Really Makes Us Safe?
By | “What really makes us safe?” research project
Addressing Sexual Harassment

Transformative Justice Workbook
An open letter to the former Commune Magazine editor who raped me
Open Letter by | Leila Raven
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