Movement-Based Participatory Inquiry: The Multi-Voiced Story of the Survivors Justice Project

Kathy Boudin, Judith Clark, Michelle Fine, Elizabeth Isaacs, Michelle Daniel Jones, Melissa Mahabir, Kate Mogulescu, Anisah Sabur-Mumin, Patrice Smith, Monica Szlekovics, María Elena Torre, Sharon White-Harrigan and Cheryl Wilkins
Additional contact information
Kathy Boudin: Center for Justice, Columbia University, New York, NY 10027, USA
Judith Clark: Hour Children, New York, NY 11106, USA
Michelle Fine: Public Science Project, The Graduate Center, City University of New York, New York, NY 10016, USA
Elizabeth Isaacs: Brooklyn Law School, Brooklyn, NY 11201, USA
Michelle Daniel Jones: Constructing Our Future, New York University, New York, NY 10012, USA
Melissa Mahabir: Survivors Justice Project, Brooklyn, NY 11201, USA
Kate Mogulescu: Brooklyn Law School, Brooklyn, NY 11201, USA
Anisah Sabur-Mumin: Survivors Justice Project, Brooklyn, NY 11201, USA
Patrice Smith: Survivors Justice Project, Brooklyn, NY 11201, USA
Monica Szlekovics: Survivors Justice Project, Brooklyn, NY 11201, USA
María Elena Torre: Public Science Project, The Graduate Center, City University of New York, New York, NY 10016, USA
Sharon White-Harrigan: Women Community Justice Association, Brooklyn, NY 11208, USA
Cheryl Wilkins: Center for Justice, Columbia University, New York, NY 10027, USA

Social Sciences, 2022, vol. 11, issue 3, 1-21

Abstract: We write as the Survivors Justice Project (SJP), a legal/organizing/social work/research collective born in the aftermath of the 2019 passage of the New York State Domestic Violence Survivors Justice Act (DVSJA), a law that allows judges to re-sentence survivors of domestic violence currently in prison and to grant shorter terms or program alternatives to survivors upon their initial sentencing. Our work braids litigation, social research, advocacy, organizing, popular education, professional development for the legal and social work communities, and support for women in prison going through the DVSJA process and those recently released. We are organized to theorize and co-produce new knowledges about the gendered and racialized violence of the carceral state and, more specifically, to support women currently serving time in New York State to access/understand the law, submit petitions, and hopefully be freed. In this article we review our collective work engaged through research and action, bridging higher education and movements for decarceration through racial/gender/economic justice, and venture into three aspects of our praxis: epistemic justice in our internal dynamics; accountabilities and deep commitments to women still incarcerated and those recently released, even and especially during COVID-19; and delicate solidarities, exploring external relations with policy makers, judges, defense attorneys, advocates, and prosecutors in New York State, other states, and internationally.

Keywords: domestic violence; decarceration; critical participatory action research; solidarity (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: A B N P Y80 Z00 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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