I’ve been getting some questions about transformative justice lately, so here’s an attempt at a quick 101 of what that means. It’s a first draft, a work in progress.

Transformative justice is build on the belief that we all generally want to be liked by the people around us and want those people to be okay. The stronger our sense of connection, the more likely we are to want to help and not harm people. So we generally do not do harmful actions unless there are root causes, like:

Some examples of root causes:

We do not understand that our actions are harmful

Our basic needs are not being met (could be physical needs, mental  health needs, etc)

We are hurting in a way that isnt acknowledged and are lashing out as a result

We reproduce a harmful oppressive system (sexist violence, racist violence, transphobic violence, etc)

… other root causes that I’ve forgotten right now

Punishment does not solve any of these causes. Punishment can make us too afraid to act for a while, but in the end, if these reasons are not adressed, our harmful behavior is going to keep coming back.

But just as importantly: because punishment is forced upon the punished, it can only happen when the punisher has more power than the punished. Punishment is a matter of who has the power to punish, not of who is right or who is deserving of punishment. Generally, punishment doesn’t happen to the bad people, just to those without the power to avoid being punished. Punishment maintains existing power imbalances and creates new power-imbalances, new harm, new wounds, and as a result new harmful behaviors. Punishment perpetuates harm.

So, what is the alternative?

Well, transformative justice relies on 3 things:

Protecting the victim and giving them space to heal (sidenote: there isn’t always a simple victim-actor binary)

Protecting the community and giving it space to heal

Working with the harmful actor to see what is needed

Focussing on the last two parts here, transformative justice means having genuine honest conversations with the harmful actor to achieve for example:

The realisation in the actor that the behavior is harmful and needs to change

The realisation in the community that someone’s basic needs were not being met and that needs to change

The realisation in the community that someone’s hurt was not acknowledged and that needs to change

The unlearning in the actor of the oppressive behaviors that prompted the harmful behavior

The realisation in the community that there was no real harm and that the behavior that broke the ‘rules’ was never harmful to begin with and  the ‘rules’ need to change

A combination of these things

In short, if there is harmful behavior, it means something about the way we have organized our society probably needs changing. Often other things that can not directly be identified as ‘root causes of harmful behavior’ come up, like ‘a person that was lashing out was able to recruit a group of friends in their harmful behavior’ and those things then need to be adressed. Transformative justice isn’t just about the actor, it is about the whole community.

Where there is harm, there is also disconnection. Pain, anger, broken trust. So identification of the root causes is followed by transformation. Meaning the root causes of the harmful behavior are removed and the connection between actor and community is restored.    

The goal of transformative justice is NOT that the harmful actor puts on a show of the right apologies and demonstrations of change. It’s not a performance of accountability. Transformative justice is about creating actual, messy, slow, imperfect change. Remorse is not a required component. The goal isn’t a specific emotion or act, it’s reaching a situation where no new harm will occur and connections are restored.

It’s hard work, for the harmful actor and for the community. It is generally not fun. When it is done by a group of people who have grown up in a culture of revenge and punishment, it’s very very difficult work. Since we we’re already making lists, here are some..

Common pitfalls:

We don’t always have the resources to address the needs that are not being met, whether they are physical needs or mental health needs.

We don’t always have the skills needed to really listen to each other, to find root causes behind harm, to work on genuine healing, etc. We’re quick to fall into familiar patterns of punishment & revenge or demanding ingenuine performed apologies so that we can have simplicity and closure.

Transformations are often slow and unclear, creating a long period of uncertainty. There is no clear sense of when it’s over or whether a harmful actor is putting enough effort into ‘dealing with their shit’. If someone is lashing out as a result of a lifetime of abuse or a deeply engrained oppressive dogma, they’re not likely to become perfect in a short time. Protecting victims and the community during that long period is difficult. Transformative justice can be emotionally draining on everyone involved over a long period of time. It is difficult to maintain. It doesn’t have big spectacular success stories and very little recognition.

Working with the harmful actor to achieve transformation means listening to someone who has done harm and genuinely trying to understand their point of view. This can bring a lot of discomfort and is something a lot of us who say we want transformative justice are ultimately unwilling to do. Transformation of an actor also results in a real reconnection of bonds between the actor and the community once the transformation has taken place. Are we willing to do that?

Participation of the victim should always be voluntary. A person healing from a very harmful thing definitely shouldn’t be pushed to participate. At the same time, some victims might really want to participate in the transformative justice process but may be unwilling or unable to deal with the messy process of genuine conversations with an actor and the flawed process of transformation it involves. Giving victims agency but also allowing the actors transformative process to take place is difficult.

We’re not very good at recognizing the difference between mutual harm and victim-actor binaries. We often end up dealing badly with cases where that is unclear. When the actor has a marginalized identity that the victim does not have, we’re often very bad at recognizing actor and victim.

We’re often unwilling to admit the role favoritism, personal bonds and popularity plays in how we respond to the need for a transformative justice process. A person who is well liked may get a lot more support in their transformation that a person who is not. The amount of energy we’re willing to spend on someone varies.

The community may be unwilling to change parts of its culture that are consistently creating new harmful actors. For example: an community that glorifies physical strength, fighting skills and a warrior attitude is going to have to problems with that again and again. A community that focusses on performative call-outs as a way of demonstrating your ideological purity is going to be very bad at genuine transformation.

And there are more pitfalls.. so yeah, it’s complicated. It’s a lot more complicated that kicking people out or building prisons.

But while punishment is ineffective and thus required again and again and again, transformative justice creates lasting change. And because it doesn’t just change the actor, every transformative justice process also creates a better community that is better capable of preventing harm in the first place.

To round up

Transformative justice is as old as human community itself and there are many different transformative justice techniques out there. Some rely on an outside ‘impartial’ negotiator, others are victim-led, some require that the actor in some way repairs the damage done while other methods reject this notion.  But in general transformative justice is about:

Safety, healing, and agency for victims

Transformation for people who did harm, resulting in meaningful reconnection to the community

Community transformation and healing

Transformation of the social conditions that perpetuate harm