Reimagining Justice This Month highlights stories about effective responses to violence – responses that disrupt cycles of violence, heal trauma, and address structural racism.
‘They Was Killing Black People:’ In Tulsa, one of the worst episodes of racial violence in U.S. history still haunts the city with unresolved questions, even as ‘Black Wall Street’ gentrifies, The Washington Post
The historical trauma of slavery and lynching continues to impact entire communities and destroy lives. In Tulsa, reckoning with that historical trauma means excavating and not only acknowledging the devastation of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre, but addressing unresolved questions about mass graves of Black people and repairing the ongoing harm. If justice means preventing violence and creating accountability and safety, this kind of history needs to be uncovered and recognized.
Bringing a dark chapter to light: Maryland confronts its lynching legacy, The Baltimore Sun
Our justice system is rooted in the legacy of slavery and lynching, and the impact of structural racism from police shootings to mass incarceration is felt across entire communities. Acknowledging that history, as well as both the historical trauma and present day harm of caused by the system, is essential for reimagining justice that can create equity and healing. This is how people in Maryland are making sure we remember the history of lynching so that we can transcend it.
Mental Health Providers Need to Reach Young Men Before More Lives Are Lost, Juvenile Justice Information Exchange
Our nation’s fixation on retribution hides and ignores the root causes of violence, because it demonizes and removes the dignity from the young people who are most impacted. It also pours resources into over-reliance on policing and mass incarceration, which destroys lives and entire communities. If we treat violence like the public health crisis that it is, not only can we see that communities are struggling to break cycles of historical and present-day trauma, but we can also build innovative new approaches grounded in racial equity and empathy that can engage people across a range of systems to restore lives and create safety for all.
Detroit teens reimagine criminal justice with alternative to new jail, Detroit Metro Times
What happens when you ask teens who are most likely to experience violence to imagine a justice system that would work to create safety and accountability? In Detroit, youth are thinking beyond mass incarceration and policing, and reimagining justice as a restorative process that engages people across a range of systems – from mental health to education to business to public space – to prevent violence and break cycles of trauma. Youth-led alternatives can lead to transformative changes in how we approach Responses to violence that are rooted in restorative justice, racial equity, and the well-being of those impacted can build safety and accountability for all.
A different path for confronting sexual assault: What is restorative justice? A practitioner explains how it works. Vox
When Ana María Archila Gualy confronted Senator Jeff Flake when he stated he planned to vote to confirm Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court, described, “The way that justice works is that you recognize harm, you take responsibility for it, and then you begin to repair it.” Survivors’ voices help us reimagine justice that builds safety and accountability for all, including responses to violence that are rooted in restorative practices. Here’s a breakdown of what that means, and a model for how restorative justice can works.
South Los Angeles Looks to End Cycle of Violence By Addressing Trauma, California Health Report
In Neither violence nor the community-wide cycles of trauma too often left in its wake are inevitable. In South Los Angeles, community activists, county officials, and community members have come together to create an innovative new Community Healing and Trauma Prevention center designed to be a gathering spot in which people can access a range of services. It is these kinds of approaches that reach beyond sentencing reform to tackle the root causes of violence to create safety and healing for all.
How trauma-informed policing can help sexual assault survivors — and investigators, Global News
Trauma-informed responses to violence focus on prevention, healing, and wellbeing across a range of systems before laws are broken, which limits law enforcement by recognizing that its primary tool arrest is not as useful as others. As we move toward reimagining justice, it includes expanding the police toolkit to include approaches grounded in empathy, understanding, and equity. Trauma-informed policing centers the needs and voices of survivors in order to create safety and healing.
