I’ve been thinking a lot this week about “equal justice under the law,” one of our supposed American values. The indictment and arrest of $Rump seems like the least that needs to be done. Not only do we have an excessive-punishment problem for women, minorities, and the poor. We have a not-enough-punishment problem for the rich and/or white and/or men.
So what about restorative justice as an option? Is it inherently more of a feminist version of justice? The idea behind it is to have more of a cooperative problem-solving approach to justice, limiting the adversarial aspect of our current system. Certainly many women are reluctant to try to obtain justice because there will be attempts to tear their testimony apart on the stand, and sometimes women want to be protected from domestic abusers but do not want them going to prison. Will restorative justice get us there?
I haven’t reached any firm conclusions, but my tentative conclusion is that we need both restorative and restrictive/punitive options as tools in our toolbox.
So for example, if you rob me, recover my belongings, understand what they mean to me, go and sin no more. If you did it out of desperation, hopefully social services will help provide resources.
But if you assaulted and terrorised me, I wouldn't want you anywhere near me and I wouldn't want to take a chance you'd do it again. Go to prison for a very long term.
When we are already so bad at even-handedly applying judicial discretion, it seems likely that we will have problems working this out in practice, at least any time soon. Can we codify it, i.e., punishment for felonies, alternatives for misdemeanours? Would it help at least somewhat balance out an unbalanced system or would it make things worse?
And what about the problem of people who fail to change their behaviour when they know that there’s not much of a punishment? For example, wage theft continues in part because even if caught, there is not much punishment, they just pay the money that hadn’t yet paid. Will people continue to commit crimes because they won’t get caught? Or will part of the restorative process be to teach the severity of the consequences of their acts? Will it make any difference, will they learn and agree that it’s wrong to continue?
And what about the lessons learned from someone escaping punishment? Did the failure to prosecute Reagan and Bush/Cheney lead to $Rump?
Is "restorative justice" potentially part of the solution? Or more of a complication?
Please discuss in the Comments.
In Other News
Crime
Mark Rowley says he was shocked [ — shocked I say! — ] by officers’ offences and law needs to make it easier to dismiss people from force
To which women of Britain responded, Duh.
Scotland Yard has been reviewing its handling of serious allegations against its own force after the scandal of David Carrick, who raped and assaulted at least 12 women.
Rowley revealed on Thursday that the force had found that four out of five past allegations of violence against women by officers and staff did not result in the correct action and should be rechecked. In all, 1,131 cases were examined in the decade to April 2022 and hundreds of officers are likely to lose their jobs.
-snip-
Rowley also said police needed to lower the threshold for taking disciplinary action against officers with problematic behaviour, as they were preoccupied with whether an allegation was criminal.
Medicine
TX A-hole Judge suspends FDA approval of Mifepristone, the drug that helps provide abortion at the earliest stages, amongst other uses, https://www.cnn.com/....
OTOH a federal judge in Washington state stops the FDA from pulling the drug off the market, https://www.live5news.com/....
Checkmate? Or another test case for SCOTUS to further limit our rights?
‘I got a brain injury and a life sentence’: the hidden legacy of male violence against women:
The effects of head trauma on athletes are well documented. Finally, a UK study is examining the long-term brain health of females abused by their partner:
The connection between traumatic brain injury (TBI) and intimate partner violence (IPV) is a global scandal and a public health secret. In the UK, it is hard to find any reference to it on websites concerning violence against women and girls, women’s organisations, major brain injury charities, or in training for heath, police and social workers. Yet physically, mentally and emotionally it can affect thousands of women over their lifetime, long after the abuse has ended.
-snip-
Survivors themselves may fail to realise the true cause of their lives falling apart – behaviour that may result in eviction from a refuge, a failure to navigate benefits, housing, employment and the loss of a child because of perceived “failings” as a mother. “Taking the children away and giving them to the abuser, what sense does that make?” asks Valera. In the 1990s she was studying neuropsychology while volunteering in a women’s shelter where users were reporting many post-concussive symptoms. Valera made the link. “I heard what the women were saying. Shockingly, my search for literature on this topic yielded zero results.”
-snip-
One woman who suffered at least three concussions at the hands of her ex-partner suggested to her doctor that the violence might be the cause of her migraines. She was told: “Let’s not go chasing zebras every time we hear hoofbeats.” By contrast, at Soar, survivors receive six months of part-time holistic rehabilitation services that include counselling, occupational therapy, aerobic exercise, meditation and help addressing health and practical problems, plus follow-up support.
So… brain damage from domestic abuse maybe not so much zebras after all?
Children
Covid left thousands of US children orphans. Few states are addressing the crisis: An estimated 245,000 children in the US have lost one or both parents to Covid, but despite profound implications they have been largely overlooked in policy responses
Many have complex needs that cut across bureaucratic silos – from grief counseling, mental health support and school transitions to formalizing a grandparent’s guardianship or securing public benefits.
But despite the profound implications for these children, their families and their communities, Covid orphans have been largely overlooked in policy responses to the pandemic, according to people working on the issue.
‘Everybody’s tired of talking about Covid’
Are dismissal of the profound impacts of parental loss in part because parenting has been mostly “women’s work”?
A word about right-wing women
MTG is getting vilified and rightly so. Still, even on DKos, it’s sometimes sounding uncomfortably misogynistic. Let’s remember to attack the policies and actions, not the people and especially not the fact that they are women, please!
This is from an article from 2 years ago, shortly after MTG and Boebert took office, and it’s still relevant:
https://msmagazine.com/...
Boebert has been labeled a “bimbo” and mocked for being a teen mom and receiving a GED. Greene has faced similar jabs at her age, appearance and sexual past. Recently, popular shows like Saturday Night Live have also lampooned Greene as “crazy” or a “nutjob.” Such characterizations might score cheap laughs and retweets, but they actually reinforce a number of ‘isms’ such as ableism, classism and sexism among others. Ad hominem attacks also divert our attention away from the real threats these women present as radical right-wing legislators.
And here is where we confront a challenging reality: our own internalized misogyny. We are left questioning how we can productively condemn Boebert and Greene’s anti-democratic, conspiracy-laden and discriminatory words and actions without turning to superficial, misogynistic attacks.
International
Five countries that are safer for women (to travel solo):
Not the usual suspects! Slovenia, Rwanda, the UAE, Japan and Norway. Click the linky to find out why.
Not surprised the US is not on the list, of course!
So sorry about running late!
As always, this is a group effort. Many thanks to Angmar, mettle fatigue, officebss, SandraLLAP, Tara and J Graham for items and discussion behind the scenes!