Commentary on The Sentencing of Larry Nassar Was Not ‘Transformative Justice.’ Here’s Why.

In the recently published piece The Sentencing of Larry Nassar Was Not ‘Transformative Justice.’ Here’s Why. A point that the writers make that I think is key when advocating for transformative justice is that you can be an individual who is “committed to justice for survivors of sexual assault and…also believe that prisons are the wrong answer to violence and should be abolished.” In other words, you can want to end rape, but not dehumanize rapists and believe the answer to ending rape is jail.

The general public believes that rape is unacceptable. It also believes that rapists should be punished via going to jail. However, does the general public grapple with the fact that rape is extremely prevalent within the walls of a jail? Is it okay for rapists (and other people who do “bad” things) to be raped? Is the belief that rape is unacceptable conditional? Creating a coalition between the issue of sexual violence and the prison system, or even a movement that simply broadens our definition of violence into one that includes the violence that happens within prisons is the vision that Hayes and Kaba are talking about.

When we connect these two movements we are forced to see that rape is not the issue of an individual person (the survivor) and is not “perpetrated” by an individual person (the rapist/perpetrator). Rape is also perpetrated by institutions: prisons, schools, workplaces, etc. As a society we accept and I’d argue expect rape to happen. Our society is built up of institutions that allow rape. We (the people) are not held accountable for rape, instead (in theory) we rather separate the rapist from society and let the act continue except with other individuals perpetrating it.

In a blog post on the Feminist Wire, Beth Richie talks about how the anti-violence movement lead her to become a prison abolitionist. This is exactly the place my own work has lead me to! Richie talks about how the mainstream movement to end violence against women plays into the unjust carceral system by equating justice with arrest and imprisonment, which is exactly what Hayes and Kaba are saying is NOT transformative justice. There is nothing transformative about working within the system.. She also talks about how focusing on individuals that perpetrate violence takes away from the conversation on state violence. Lastly she gives an example of an organization that is using these politics in practice: INCITE! Everywhere I read about this intersection INCITE! Is almost always mentioned which leads me to believe that my professors are extra bad-ass, and reminds me how fortunate I am to be here.

http://www.thefeministwire.com/2014/01/how-anti-violence-activism-taught-me-to-become-a-prison-abolitionist/

How does racism play into the struggle of getting people to understand that prisons don’t need to exist?