Justice
How does your experience with theories you have encountered in
Women’s Studies inform your ideas about justice? What is justice? What is just?
Similarly to markiewicz1916, the courses I have taken in Women's Studies usually focused on social and reproductive rights. This is my first encounter with theories of Restorative Justice (RJ). It is exciting to throw myself into a new argument, to use feminist tools to find my own answer to what is 'just.' In the same way that liberal, social, and radical feminisms (do I count you, post-feminism....nah, I don't think so) mark valid approaches towards feminist goals, a feminist approach to RJ is going to be open and diverse.
I am prone towards a more radical, Marxist approach regarding RJ. In such a case, I hold capitalism and a patriarchal beginning/evolution of the prison industry responsible for its inability to provide comfort to the victim and rehabilitation for the incarcerated, as well as the disproportionality of representation of racial, classed (and gendered, if we consider the feminization of poverty) groups in prisons. It seems, however, that there is no way to really attack the prison industries. It is well secured financially, with a trend towards privatization. The only way to change the system is going to be tearing it down. I believe it was Angela Davis who talked about having to go and tear down the walls--that our contact is going to be key towards successfully bringing our brothers and sisters back into society. So, perhaps a focus on individual cases isn't entirely such a bad idea.
It is hard for me to fathom how alternative RJ approaches could be built to really successfully deal with the needs of victims and criminals and societal demands or moral imperatives. It is interesting to read how feminist approaches are having a hard time being understood and integrated into this process. I believe that justice is finding a new way to live peacefully, and peacefully for all parties. A victim has been wronged and deserves the option for punitive punishment of their oppressor, as society well supports. However, I do believe there are times when this step could be unnecessary, and I certainly believe that it is a step that does not tremendous amounts of time. We must take the time to teach victims forgiveness and empowerment. If a victim relies only on the courts for healing, criminal activity will not stop. Hating crime will not make it stop. These are living, breathing humans.............and now I am miles away from my original attack on the prison industry structure, doch nicht (actually, no I'm not), I think we need to tear down those walls to reach out (maybe RJ even after incarceration?) to our fellow citizens.
There are alternative ways to justice. I am excited to begin talking with the women at ICIW and to start singing with the OCPC. I am certain they will shed light onto this issue.
I agree with you on the idea of "tearing" down the prison....I think the only way to begin creating a system that will work for everyone, victim and offender, is to start with an clean slate and to build from the ground up.
ReplyDeleteI am also excited to talk with the women at ICIW! I think it would be interesting to ask them how they feel about RJ and what they feel would work.. cuz obviously there are a lot of things that apparently do not work, and from the view that I have no ideas how to make it work, but maybe someone who has been incarcerated may have more of an opinion than I do.
ReplyDeleteThis is a fabulous post, lots of chew on with regard to RJ, Marxism, and the PIC. Keep up the radical railing, we love it!
ReplyDeleteI'm also very interested in the way capitalism maintains the prison industrial complex. It really scares me that prisons are being run as businesses for profit. It will be interesting to hear the thoughts of the women at ICIW on this topic.
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