People Against Prisons Aotearoa

Abolitionist Demand 10: Institute community-based solutions to interpersonal harm and violence.

This is a part of No Pride in Prisons’ Abolitionist demands. These demands were originally published as a book. To see a pdf of the book, click here. To buy a copy, please email info@noprideinprisons.org.nz

In calling for the abolition of the New Zealand Police, it is necessary to propose alternative systems of intervening in harm and violence. Alongside the reinstitution of tikanga Māori, No Pride in Prisons suggests the practice of transformative justice as one of many ways for communities to deal with such problems.

Transformative justice is an alternative justice system proposed by those advocating the abolition of the police and prisons, and is based on anti-capitalist emancipatory ideology and methods which prioritise both victim safety and perpetrator wellbeing. This means of justice is carried out by way of holding a perpetrator accountable to their community while prioritising the needs and safety of the victim. Ultimately, however, transformative justice requires understanding and mitigating any broader social factors behind the perpetrator’s actions. These may include, for example, poverty in the case of theft, and harmful notions of masculinity in the case of intimate partner violence. Transformative justice requires a commitment to taking steps to change that person’s attitudes and actions for the betterment of their community.

Therefore, what sets this system apart from restorative justice is the focus on perpetrator transformation, rather than a mere restoration of the parties’ relationship. That transformation is achieved by way of both education and addressing the difficulties in the perpetrator’s life which lead them to enact social harm.

For example, Generation FIVE is a U.S-based organisation enacting transformative justice in cases of child sexual abuse, recognising the harmful and counterproductive nature of state intervention in such instances.^[1] The group calls for communities around the world to set up collectives of people dedicated to achieving justice in their area and protecting their communities from the violence of the Criminal Injustice System. In a 2007 report, Generation FIVE outlines what transformative justice looks like in practice.^[2] The process begins with the formation of local collectives willing to apply the transformative justice process to harmful behaviours in their community. In cases of child sexual abuse, this means first and foremost conducting education programmes in the community regarding healthy child development and the cyclical nature of abuse. Community education is one of the responsibilities that transformative justice collectives are tasked with.

The other key responsibility of transformative justice collectives is, of course, intervention and mediation in specific instances of interpersonal harm in their communities. In the case of child sexual abuse, for example, the collective is called upon to consult with the perpetrator and victim, or a close family member to act as advocate if the victim is considered too young. The collective proposes that the parties come together for mediation, using this initial contact with perpetrator and victim to gauge the circumstances under which both parties would be comfortable doing so.

What follows is a process resembling restorative justice, in which perpetrator and victim are brought together by the collective. Similar to restorative justice, this stage of the process involves a conversation in which the victim or their advocate explains to the perpetrator how their actions have affected them, and what the perpetrator needs to do to make amends.

In the case of the abolition of the police force, a transformative justice system could step in to take on the role of intervention in cases of interpersonal harm and conflict. Generation FIVE suggests a varying collective of people to deal with each incident, which would be made up first and foremost of people committed to carrying out transformative justice. Furthermore, members should be sufficiently close to the incident, and should have relationships with the parties involved that could be utilised in having those parties come together for mediation. This way perpetrators and victims alike feel safe and comfortable with the intervening party, and thus will be more likely to want to resolve the issues underlying their conflict.

^[1] Generation FIVE, Toward Transformative Justice: A Liberatory Approach to Child Sexual Abuse and Other Forms of Intimate and Community Violence, (San Francisco: Generation FIVE, 2007): 35.

^[2] Ibid.