Strategies and Stories from the Transformative Justice Movement
eBook, 260 pages
English language
Published Jan. 21, 2020 by AK Press.
Afraid to call 911, but not sure what to do instead? Here are strategies for accountability beyond the criminal justice system.
Transformative justice seeks to solve the problem of violence at the grassroots level, without relying on punishment, incarceration, or policing. Community-based approaches to preventing crime and repairing its damage have existed for centuries. However, in the putative atmosphere of contemporary criminal justice systems, they are often marginalized and operate under the radar. Beyond Survival puts these strategies front and center as real alternatives to today’s failed models of confinement and “correction.”
In this collection, a diverse group of authors focuses on concrete and practical forms of redress and accountability, assessing existing practices and marking paths forward. They use a variety of forms—from toolkits to personal essays—to delve deeply into the “how to” of transformative justice, providing alternatives to calling the police, ways to support people having mental health crises, …
Afraid to call 911, but not sure what to do instead? Here are strategies for accountability beyond the criminal justice system.
Transformative justice seeks to solve the problem of violence at the grassroots level, without relying on punishment, incarceration, or policing. Community-based approaches to preventing crime and repairing its damage have existed for centuries. However, in the putative atmosphere of contemporary criminal justice systems, they are often marginalized and operate under the radar. Beyond Survival puts these strategies front and center as real alternatives to today’s failed models of confinement and “correction.”
In this collection, a diverse group of authors focuses on concrete and practical forms of redress and accountability, assessing existing practices and marking paths forward. They use a variety of forms—from toolkits to personal essays—to delve deeply into the “how to” of transformative justice, providing alternatives to calling the police, ways to support people having mental health crises, stories of community-based murder investigations, and much more. At the same time, they document the history of this radical movement, creating space for long-time organizers to reflect on victories, struggles, mistakes, and transformations.
Featuring writing, tools and interviews by Alexis Pauline Gumbs, Kai Cheng Thom, Amita Swadhin, Audrey Huntley, Amanda Aguilar Shank, Janae E Bonsu of BYP100, Philly Stands Up (Esteban Kelly, Jenna Peters-Golden, Qui Dorian, Bench Ansfield and Beth Blum), Creative Interventions, Trans Lifeline, Bay Area Transformative Justice Collective, Oakland Power Projects, SOS Collective/Audre Lorde Project, Icarus Project/ Fireweed Collective, Raquel Lavina, Chris Lymbertos, RJ Maccani, Nathan Shara, Staci Haines, Georgia Latino Alliance For Human Rights, MIJENTE, Monica Sehovic Bowen Forrester, Elene Lam, Chanelle Gallant, Elisabeth Marie Long, adrienne maree brown, Adrian Cole, Yalini Dream, Shira Hassan, Mariame Kaba and Mimi Kim.
Like this review which I just boosted, I found some really good stuff. In addition to the articles mentioned in the linked review, I thought chapter 27 (EXCERPT FROM “MOVING BEYOND CRITIQUE”) was good because it looked at how one TJ project worked from the inside, and highlighted how messy that project was structurally. A lot of the items got hand-wavery in their discussion of what the issues could be; that one was very specific.
This book is a collection of texts from and/or about the transformative justice movement. Some of the texts are recycled material from zines or guides. Some are very practical guides, some are theoretical reflections; some real-life testimonials, some interviews. Many of the texts are really excellent: special mention to "What to do when you've been abusive", "Facing shame" and "Pod-mapping", for especially moving and growing things in me. However, the book as a whole lacks a good throughline. There is some logic to the basic four-part structure that the texts were ordered in, but it still feels like an unsorted, random collection of material. The fact that the material itself contains some absolute diamonds doesn't completely redeem the lack of editorial effort.
On a personal level though, reading this was an enlightening and healing experience.
