Beyond Victims' Rights
This workshop challenges the foundation of our criminal-legal system while also inviting deeper critique of its alternatives.
Date and time
Location
Online
Refund Policy
About this event
- 1 hour
Many of us may realize that the criminal-legal system is built upon and reinforced by a false binary separating “victims” and “offenders,” but what is less understood are the ways alternatives such as restorative justice also serve to deepen these divisions and prevent holistic, comprehensive, and sustainable healing or accountability.
This session builds off Tati Chaterji’s conference presentation at the Color of Violence Conference (INCITE! 2015) entitled “Victims’ Rights: Beyond Retribution, or When We Look Like Criminals Ourselves – Women of Color and Exclusionary Restorative Justice Practices.” Together we will center women of color and others who are invisiblized in the problematic racialized and gendered categories of this framework. We will wrestle with how to bring our voices to the table and reach justice, dignity, and recognition on our own terms.
Participants will receive resources to think deeper into this topic, and leave with a deeper analysis on what it means to center victims and survivors within and outside of the carceral state.
Other Workshops in this Series
Click on the following links to learn more and register for other workshops as part of our springtime TJ Office Hours:
Frequently asked questions
Transformative justice (TJ) is a response to harm that seeks to create safety, protection, and healing outside of state processes (police, prisons, courts) that themselves cause harm. TJ recognizes that prisons and police cause violence and serve to uphold an oppressive status quo.
While many practices in TJ align with restorative justice (RJ), a notable difference is the political commitment to work outside of governmental and legal systems. Transformative justice does not compromise on abolitionist goals of developing true and comprehensive alternatives to policing.
A good starting point is the blog for Mia Mingus, founder of the Bay Area TJ Collective: https://leavingevidence.wordpress.com/2019/01/09/transformative-justice-a-brief-description/
Your generosity covers internal costs including compensating care-workers who allow us to be present and healthy. For reference on trying to build autonomously from philanthropic institutions: https://incite-national.org/beyond-the-non-profit-industrial-complex/
Yes! Tati is offering this political education solo right now but has a network of practitioners to pull from in meeting the real struggles of putting TJ into practice. Email tatiana@collabchange.org or zara@collabchange.org to learn more.
No, to honor the privacy of the participants and because of technical limitations. All participants will, however, receive resources to share and spark further exploration on the topic!