Notes on accountability from Beyond Survival: Strategies and Stories from the Transformative Justice Movement

The following are summary notes relating to accountability in Ejeris Dixon and Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha's 'Beyond Survival: Strategies and Stories from the Transformative Justice Movement.'

Ejeris Dixon on Transformative justice and relationship building, page 15

• "Transformative justice and community accountability are terms that describe ways to address violence without relying on police or prisons. These approaches often work to prevent violence, to intervene when harm is occurring, to hold people accountable and to transform individuals and society to build safer communities."

• "Some groups support survivors by helping them identify their needs and boundaries while ensuring their attackers agree to these boundaries and atone for the harm they caused. Other groups create safe spaces and sanctuaries to support people escaping from violence. There are also community campaigns that educate community members on the specific dynamics of violence, how to prevent it, and what community-based programs are available."
• "The process of building community safety poses some critical questions to our movements: What is the world that we want? How will we define safety? How do we build the skills to address harm and violence? How do we create the trust needed for communities to rely on each other for mutual support?"

Relationship building

• When violence occurs, the people close to us can help. Relationship building can look like attending community events, introducing yourself to neighbours, inviting neighbours to events you organize, visiting local business owners etc. For many people, notably, engaging with strangers can lead to harassment and sometimes violence. But these challenges should simply shift how we try to build relationships.
• Some key questions: "What can you help build? What conversations can you start to increase the safety of your community? What new structures or collaborations will you crease to decrease your reliance on the criminal legal system?"

Amanda Aguilar Shank on a process for accountability, pg 27

• Interpersonal harm is inevitable. Abolition imagines that "each moment where harm happens is an opportunity to transform relationships and communities, build trust and safety, and grow slowly toward the beautiful people we are meant to be, in the world we deserve."

On a process for accountability, from sexual harassment context:

• Is is suggested to come up with a protocol for how your organization will handle working with people who have harassed or assaulted others in the movement. This should involve confronting the person who caused harm directly to ask for details. It is suggested to be public about these protocols and decisions.
• Organizations should approach others they are working with if they are working with someone who has caused harm, and share their protocol on accountability.
• Uplift the leadership of women, gender non-conforming and trans people, and talk about the organizations commitment to dismantling sexism and homophobia regularly.
• Accountability means naming the behaviour and its impact, issuing an apology and taking steps towards restitution.
• Simply firing and excluding people who cause harm mirrors the criminal justice system. But we can work to build a path back, for those ready to be held accountable to change. When we throw people away, they don't just go away.

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