What about the rapists? Anarchist approaches to crime & justice

by Various

This pamphlet is aimed at anarchists thinking about how to deal with abuses of power and acts of domination in their communities. It brings together a collection of articles representing different approaches to this problem, from transformative justice-based accountability processes to retributive-based acts of survivor-led retaliation.

Focusing on lessons learnt from experiments in this field and concerns that persist about these methods, it offers possible ways forward for those looking for grassroots responses.

It is hoped this collection will help inform debates among groups starting to engage with these issues, with a view to supporting an appropriate and critical application of different responses.

Genres: Nonfiction, Politics, Theory, Feminism, Activism, Anarchism, Philosophy

82 pages, Unknown Binding

Published January 1, 2015

About the author

Various is the correct author for any book with multiple unknown authors, and is acceptable for books with multiple known authors, especially if not all are known or the list is very long (over 50).

If an editor is known, however, Various is not necessary. List the name of the editor as the primary author (with role "editor"). Contributing authors' names follow it.

Note: WorldCat is an excellent resource for finding author information and contents of anthologies.

Reviews

[K · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.75 stars. Really gave me some stuff to pull from when talking about restorative justice, while also not diminishing the power of survivors taking justice into their own hands. I wish there was more of a racial justice lens when discussing criminality. As the authors are anarchists, they're against the state and criminal justice system, but when critiquing criminality they don't mention the anti-Black context that criminality also exists in. other than that, I would recommend. I will definitely reference for years to come.

[Ashton · Rating 4 out of 5]

pretty solid exploration of TJ, RJ, and retributive options (and the nuances of each) regarding sexual assault in anarchist spaces. definitely leaves a lot of discussions open, but i think that's a part of the appeal, and this definitely dives into things that some anarchist discussions of crime/justice in a postcapitalist world brush by. relatively quick read and accessible for people who're already familiar with language/topics around abolition, anarchism, and TJ/RJ/etc.

[Alejo Alvarez || babblewithale · Rating 4 out of 5]

Let's talk about it

I heard about this book from the account on IG: @yagurldanny_ , so shout out to them 🗣

The goodreads synopsis does a pretty good job at explaining the basic tenants of the zine, as a large focus on the zine highlights what Transformative Justice (TJ) is shaping itself into as a critical framework (as it moves away from the execution of Restorative Justice) in order to address when sexual assault occurs and what how we must attend the healing needs of a survivor, create accountability and consequence for the abuser, and the necessary roles our overall community needs to fill to address these prevelant issues.

As the synopsis explains, this zine only kind of starts to generate a conversation (within the boundaries of the book, as I most likely suspect these conversations are continually growing) on this framework and what it looks like when being applied to real-life cases, as we read from the story of Diane and Tom. And, of course, in the application of a new a rising framework, it gets complicated and messy, but this doesn't necessarily entail that it isn't important and worthwhile to continue pursuing in order to explore whether Transformative Justice can be truly applied in our communities in order alter the ways we view punishment for sexual assault in a grander conversation surrounding the prison industrial complex and societal structures on crime.

For me, especially from the readings in the second half of the book and the quotes included from Anguista Celeste, I found it really difficult to see how Transformative Justice (with the information I only currently from this zine) would work as a model to navigate necessary punishment and authentic rehabilitation for men who sexually abuse. From several accounts in the book, we still clearly see how this model has limitations due to the time commitments people would have to put in to trying to mentally transform sexual assulters, limited access we have to the right people who are educated and patient enough to handle this task (as men who abuse will typically only talk to men they respect, creating limitations on finding educated men who has the patience to talk to an abuser), still not having a methodology on seeing whether or not sexual abusers would abuse again after these transformaative conversations, intersectional issues that will clearly arise (such as whether a man would even have these conversations if he comes from a different class, whether he's more prejudiced to different races, whether he is transphobic even if he abused a trans person, etc.), and so forth.

The zine definitely does discuss several other limitations, but there is a subject I wish they had highlighted a little more in a grander conversation: how can Transformative Justice function as a future framework in order to address the failings of our political systems in the punishment of sexual abusers as a means of truly abolishing oppresive prison systems?

Don't get me wrong, this is definitely a subject that the zine discusses, but I definitely believe this zine would generate even more insightful ideas if it were in conversation with books such as Are Prisons Obsolete by Angel Davis, and The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander, specifically if it highlights how we could form a genuine approach to punishing and transforming sexual abusers outside of a prison model so that we no longer use sexual abuse as a category to justify the prison industrial complex, as this is rhetoric that still keeps slavery alive and functional in the United States.

As such, one of the most compelling arguments from this zine was the necessity to create new ways to deal with the sexual and gender abused committed by men that exists outside of the existing frameworks in politics and society—as we all should know that our governments rarely help women and queer identities in the prevention or the prosecution of an abuser. If I were to have any closing thought, it would be that I genuinely believe that TJ is a framework that society will need in face of our incompetent governments when they are still run to uphold men, and hopefully it also serves as a model to create more integral communities (as the idea of a what a community is also discussed in the zine).

But, just as the vine discusses, there also isn't anything wrong with violent retaliation, just as long as one does their best to stay safe and not get caught 👀

If you made it this far 🙏 this zine is available for free online through Internet Archives (goated 🐐), so please go read it! And it also has several other additional sources that keep talking on the same topics of TJ‼️

[Boritabletennis · Rating 4 out of 5]

An accesible and thoughtful zine for those who wish to address patterns of abuse in their communities without reproducing the harms wrought by carcerality and the "justice" system.

Update-
Available for free here: http://www.emptycagesdesign.org/new-z...

[Coral Opal · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a good zine :)

I was excited when I got it initially, but got bored partway through "Beautiful, Difficult, Powerful" by The Chrysalis Collective. I think that this is certainly the low point of the zine (particularly unfortunate that it comes first in terms of the body of the zine), but after having read it all, I definitely understand its conclusion.

I would highly recommend this zine for anyone interested in "justice", particularly outside of the justice system. It raises and discusses a lot of questions about accountability, transformative justice, retribution, and violence, and the zine's conclusion, "Beyond Revenge & Reconciliation: demolishing the straw men" by (A)legal is particularly good.

Overall, again, I would highly recommend this zine and would love to discuss it and the topics is brings up with anybody interested! (You can find it online and I can send a link/file :3)

[zara · Rating 5 out of 5]

Incredibly helpful — showing a variety of ways to respond to rape and abuse in activist communities, shedding light on some of the gaps in transformative justice approaches, and validating vigilante justice as one of the limited noncarceral options for survivors.

[alexis · Rating 2 out of 5]

I’d recommend checking out Disrupting the Bystander: When #metoo Happens Among Friends, The Feminist and the Sex Offender, and Love With Accountability: Digging Up the Roots of Child Sexual Abuse, for more consistent, in-depth approaches to transformative justice regarding rape.

[m. · Rating 4 out of 5]

(3.5/5)
a good introduction to the topic for beginners—offers thoughtful examinations of different ways to approach reform and punishment for rapists within an anarchist community. part one, beautiful, difficult, powerful was particularly interesting to me as it delved into a pratical example of transformative justice (tj) being used in a real life setting by the chrysalis collective. for those interested in the topic, this zine is definitely worth a read. rape is not a personal misfortune but an experience with domination shared by many women. when more than two people have suffered the same oppresion the problem is no longer personal but political—thus, rape is a political matter.

[M. Ainomugisha · Rating 5 out of 5]

A critical zine that goes in detail about diverse anarchist tactics that can be applied in response to abuse among harmed communities. What About The Rapists interestingly emphasizes how hegemonies and dogmatism might be replicated and propagated even through mechanisms such as Transformative Justice and the Accountability Process.

Only issue I had with this zine was that the language was extremely dated, essentialist or non-resonant. Otherwise, it’s an indispensable resource and is easily accessible online.

[MarchingAnts · Rating 3 out of 5]

The self-critical nature of this means it's definitely a good resource for starting conversations among those who are already familiar with the concepts of transformative justice but I'm not sure just how accessible it would be to those who aren't. There were some scenarios or situations that weren't explored that I felt would have been benefical to do so, and the, in all fairness very rare, usage of male-bodied as a way to describe the majority of perpetrators has some potentially transphobic implications. Overall it'd probably be a good read for a radical book club that has already read into the basics of transformative justice and want something that will help inspire further conversation on the topic.

[Johnathan Kindall · Rating 3 out of 5]

Think I might have had my hopes a little too high for this. Insightful in a theoretical and critical sense, but nothing in here is definitive, scalable or even proven to be that effective, something that the writers and editors are the first to admit. It’s successful as a literature review and as an easy introduction to the topics within, but it’s little more than 70-page conversation starter at the end of the day.

[Logan Crews · Rating 2 out of 5]

lots of good information with anecdotes to visualize TJ/RJ practices, but honestly the "male-bodied" and "female-bodied" etc language turned me off. one essay recognized the potential problems that come with essentializing gender in this way but it was really dismissive and counter how anarchists should view & interact with gender/sex

[leren_lezen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Super fascinating anarchistic perspectives on accountability and justice regarding sexual assault (obv outside of the power of the state), mainly through the lens of transformative & restorative justice. I very much liked many of the ideas present, and also liked that they showcased different theoretical and practical strands of thinking within anarchist communities and their pro's and cons. Really loved the focus on healing and repair over punishment and the prison system (even though violence is sometimes endorsed in this book, which I think does go too far, although the idea of a physically violent feminist gang, beating sense into men who cannot be reached through conversation, is ofc incredibly powerful and cool). Also very recognisable how its often men who can talk the talk (for instance, use feminist lingo, teach workshops on sexual consent or boundaries) but not walk the walk (for instance, sexually assault women and take no accountability).

[Dylan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Short introduction to anarchist debates around transformative justice and accountability processes.
As someone already noted, to the exception of this one text talking using disgusting terms ("male" and "female" bodied) and another seemingly critical of queer and transfeminist anti-essentialist stance on sexual assault (we also suffer from assault on queer and feminist spaces and need to take those assault seriously, get over it radfems), the text are useful to show the limits of accountability processes in the Anglo punk/anarchist Milieus.

Main take away: what does a community response look like and what does it mean to be collectively responsible if there aren't any really communities? In this case prevention is more effective and survivor-led violent direct action might even be an option to consider in response to assault.

[Camila · Rating 4 out of 5]

Un zine educativo sobre experiencias de justicia restaurativa y transformativa con respecto a abuso doméstico y/o sexual dentro de comunidades anarquistas.
Me pareció muy honesto al abordar las razones por las que no siempre funciona este tipo de procesos, toca temas desde cómo entendemos los abusos, hasta qué rol cumplen dentro de los sistemas de opresión, explica por qué el sistema judicial actual no funciona, también aborda y cuestiona las alternativas como acción directa "vengativa", etc. Me pareció una excelente herramienta para la autoeducación en la búsqueda de alternativas a este sistema de mierda.

[Sijmen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Both The Dispossessed by Ursula Le Guin and Walkaway by Cory Doctorow acknowledge justice as a core issue to address in anarchist society but neither had me convinced.

The title of this zine then caught my attention and it did a good job of providing some thoughts and experience about restorative and transformative justice (which I wasn't familiar with before). Again, I'm not quite convinced of their use, especially for harm other than sexual assault. I felt like a terrible person for sympathizing with the group whose communique dismisses such accountability processes outright and describes them taking the bat to a rapist.

[Francis Francis · Rating 3 out of 5]

Handy and insightful look at transformative and retributive justice, examining the strengths, flaws, and practicalities of both approaches. I came into this seeking answers. I definitely leaned towards the ideals of transformative justice - aside from my general issues with how it’s wielded by the state, I take the admittedly naive position that people do what they think is right most of the time, and that most harm comes out of lapses in judgment and need against need - but I was also aware that my point of view was flawed and my actual knowledge of both methods was spotty at best. What About The Rapists? gave me the answers I was looking for in this regard. It made the case for both approaches in an accessible and nuanced way and

“Beautiful, Difficult, Powerful” is a sort of step-by-step guide/case study for the lengthy process of transformative justice. It’s a great start to the transformative justice section of the zine, laying out what it looks like in practice and evaluating the writers’ own experience conducting the process. By focusing on a specific instance of the process, it firmly grounds it in practical terms, with all the nuances and emotional consequences of a process involving real people. This was possibly the most useful to me in terms of the questions I had about transformative justice, and I think it’ll stick with me.

“Accounting for Ourselves” is a longer one. Grounded in the US scene, it goes over the benefits and shortcomings the process in a more general sense - the ways it can help, and the ways it can be impractical. Next to the others, this is a pretty lengthy and dry piece that I didn’t get along with quite so well, but it makes it’s case very well, and sold me on retributive justice better than the pieces in the retributive justice section of the zine (to be clear, one of them doesn’t really set out to sell you on anything. The other has its own issues.). It pairs well with “Beautiful, Difficult, Powerful” for the first half of the zine, providing a theoretical basis to back up the more personal and practical piece.

“”Anarchist” Rapist Gets the Bat: We’ll Show You Crazy Bitches” is a short, snappy piece about a specific act of retribution against a rapist. Less a piece of theory and more a piece of creative non fiction, this piece is effective and brutal. It serves a similar role to “Beautiful, Difficult, Powerful” in that it presents a personal story before the more theoretical piece, but where “Beautiful, Difficult, Powerful” is strategic and explanatory, this is quite fittingly blunt and emotive.

“Communiqué” is a weird one. It makes a compelling case for retributive justice, but it also uses the phrase “male-bodied” in a way that set me on edge (it uses “women” and “female-bodied” seemingly interchangeably, but pretty consistently refers to men as “male-bodied”). It’s anonymously written, so I can’t look into the writer’s views, but I do not get the impression that they would consider me “male-bodied”, and the inclusion of this piece kind of sours the entire zine for me. Combined with an epigraph from a radical feminist group (I don’t think that radical feminism is inherently transphobic, but there’s enough of an overlap to make me uncomfortable here) and a perspective that teeters between systemically-minded and gender essentialist, this one is very firmly in “bad vibes” territory. The points it makes aren’t wrong in a vacuum, but if it is trying to cast trans women as the beneficiaries of gendered violence, I absolutely do not trust its writer to be making a case for retributive justice.

All in all, this zine gave me what I was looking for in it and succeeds at what it sets out to do, but “Communiqué” sours it just enough that I don’t feel like I can recommend it without a very large asterisk.

[Corvus · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have to admit that it is not entirely Fair for me to review this 68-page zine right after reading the textbook sized "Creative interventions toolkit." Especially since I thought it was going to be about more than just sexual and intimate partner violence accountability processes around the year it was released.

I also picked this up when it came across my feed thinking that it was a newer publication. I was around and recall reading many of the entries included in this when they initially came out online and were being shared between us. It was interesting to reread some of them now. At this point in my life, I relate to the crimethinc and second (A)Legal entry in this most and have mixed feelings about others.

It's odd because I remember feeling very empowered, or what I thought was empowered, when they came out. I see part of this is being because I was generally running on pure trauma and a semi-new-found community where people had taught me that I didn't just have to hide, accept, ignore, justify, or submit to the horrors I had experienced and witnessed in my life up until then. Now that some time has passed, I still don't have the right answers, but I do find that this zine could have included more perspectives of people that were posted back then.

After seeing the telephone game being played so many times with vague accusations made throughout the community, usually unintentionally but sometimes manipulatively changing form to be more and more extreme as the story went along, I've become more critical of the idea that people should just get the shit kicked out of them and that we should cheer it on and call it empowerment. At the same time I've experienced things at the hands of and seen other people experience things at the hands of human beings that are so cruel that I struggle to fathom how their brains allow them to exist that way. Maybe there's only one way to deal with them. Since I already wrote a damn novella when reviewing CIT, I won't go into a thousand stories now of which there are far too many. All I can really say is that we're all pretty goddamn flawed. I liked the two aforementioned entries in this the most because they didn't claim to have concrete perfect universal sort of solutions like some of the others seem to. They also didn't have really bizarre vague definitions in them that didn't make sense to me.

I guess I could say that if you're new and weren't around in the 2010s when a lot of this is going down, this zine is a good piece of (A) herstory to read. But it's not the whole history. And I think its criticism of transformative Justice is uneven versus its criticism of violence in the ways some of the entries discuss it.

[Elly Metin · Rating 3 out of 5]

„i wanted revenge. I wanted to make him feel as out of control, scared and vulnerable as he had made me feel. There is no safety really after a sexual assault but there can be consequences.“

interesting approach to a serious topic and i must say i myself are definitely guilty of asking this question.
i do have to say i think a lot of the approaches feel open ended and have no clear structure yet but the reasoning for that is described in the book and logically there’s not even a solution in our current criminal justice system.

one of my major problems personally with the approach of consulting survivor as well as assaulter felt like a traumatic approach for the survivor and i don’t think i personally would’ve been able to commit to sst as well as the approach also feels a bit like hoping for the perfect victim since both consultation teams ask for time frame of the consultation period as well as towards the end of the book when they decide what counts as being expelled for the community or kept in … a lot of the points hope for clarity right away which is impossible in such a highly traumatic experience and a lot of people only realise later what has happened to them or are ready after a few days, months, years whatever to be confronted.

i do say even tho i’ve been highly critical in my review i feel like that the approaches are off to a good start and the more clarity it gets through future development could actually be a good way to deal with assaulters and perpetuators.

Big shoutout to the ladies of ‚„anarchist“ rapist gets the bat: we’ll show you crazy bitches part II‘ i was a big fan of that part tbf

[Lisa Pontén · Rating 4 out of 5]

definitely worth a read, a good view of different perspectives of transformative and reformative justice including a dissection of the concepts of crime, justice and especially punitive justice that is often not made enough or highlighted enough in anarchist circles!

instead of simply dismissing punitive justice as 'authoritarian', this collection of zines also speaks about cases where it is not possible or desirable to even start a transformative justice process. also, it includes a detailed outlining of what a transformative justice process can look like, which was very helpful for me and our collectives - we also discussed it in a bookclub so we really took it apart - since it is often used as an abstract concept that people want to strive for but ends up being largely conceived as a huge task that has no concrete steps and thus, is seemingly unachievable.

that said, the part about punitive justice and the forms of it which the author is arguing are 'justified' are way too short in my opinion; it is basically just stating two forms of this without concretising much, while the parts about transformative justice processes is very long and detailed. sometimes it also gets very redundant; points are made and repeated over and over again (which is understandable given that it is a collection of zines made by different authors; but some more thorough editing would have made the read much more pleasant).

[pixie_stickx · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not really a book, more a collection of essays and zines. And I read extra because I am insufferable, including:

- Supporting a Survivor of Sexual Assault
- Thinking Through Perpetrator Accountability
-Incite! Women of Colour Against Violence and Critical Resistance: Statement on Gender Violence and the Prison Industrial Complex
- Anarchism: What it is, and What it ain’t
- If You See Something, Do Something!
- Is the Anarchist Man our Comrade?
- Strategies for Survivors
&
- The Broken Teapot : (zine including…)
— The Broken Teapot
— Safety is an Illusion: Reflections on Accountability
— Love you too much
— Questioning Rape
— Half a Dozen Lessons I May Never Learn Not Until Them Troubles Come Around

Highly recommend the broken teapot zine.

Overall I found this to be a great introduction into the topic of perpetrator accountability in anarchist communities and the faults and benefits of it. I also found it interesting seeing strategies for managing behaviours and holding people accountable in a community that refused to restrict the autonomy of these people.

Very interesting.
Definitely like the anarchistic mentality and I think we need a lot more of it. It’s not a perfect system of course because it relies heavily on a community that at present doesn’t and cannot exist under capitalism. But I believe anarchy could be the basis of a kinder world if it was a mentality incorporated at an early age.

[El · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an accessible zine to those with a basic knowledge of anarchism and alternative justice systems, mostly covering transformative justice, accountability systems and non-state led retributive justice and each of their pitfalls, as well as suggestions and questions that can lead to further development in the non-carceral justice field. I didn't have a huge base of knowledge going into this and learnt a lot, it answered a lot of questions I had and also provoked more. It's also UK-based which is nice to see, considering the anarchist community in the UK is not as strong as in e.g. the US. It is very specific to anarchist spaces, so some of the TJ critique may be less relevant in non-anarchist community.

small side note: I was uncomfortable with the use of the phrases "male-bodied" and "female-bodied" within the vigilante chapter, which I've come to associate with transphobes (specifically TERFs). Not sure if the slang has been appropriated away from its original use since this zine was published, but thought it was worth a call-out.

[Brooke · Rating 5 out of 5]

Provides a very enlightening look at some anarchists approaches to sexual violence without involving the police and being survivor focused. This opened my eyes a lot more to what our options are in an anarchist worldview when interpersonal relationships need accountability processes whether they be retributive justice or transformative justice. I feel they made very good points about each ones short comings, strong points, and how/when to accomplish both. I really recommend this if you're intrigued on the concept of how "crime" works in an anarchist society. I will say- it of course can also be of course a bit repetitive, however, it also is throwing a lot at you and it isn't a long book. It also provided plenty of recommendations for other zines and resources to check out too! Very happy to have read this and I look forward to discussing the contents of this book to other anarchists since I have a much better understanding now!

[Emiliano Merli · Rating 2 out of 5]

This work addresses the problems of defining "crimes" as "abuses of power" in order to protect people and combat systems of oppression (page 10), but deals with gaining the perpetrator's collaboration with blackmail (page 21) and manipulation, creates a framework that refuses any challenges to the victim's version of events (page 23).

the TJ model is the perfect way for an abuser to punish a victim for misbehaving.

The role of perpetrator and victim are given at the start of the process, in the case of a mutually abusive relationship it would be a case of first-takes-all, the first person to come out is helped, the remaining party has to be punished. As tech bros always innovate travel only to get either trains or buses, anarchists always innovate criminal justice only to get our current justice system with limited victim counseling and limited rehabilitation.

Use this zine to learn about rape in anarchist circles.

[Deana Ayers · Rating 3 out of 5]

I expected to really love this zine but...I didn't? I feel like this is a decent read for those who are well versed in transformative justice, but I can definitely see it turning off people who are new to transformative justice processes and frameworks. It seemed at times like TJ as a concept wasn't taken as seriously as it could've been. Many of the pitfalls that were identified seemed to be people not having the skills needed, or the values of TJ clashing with anarchist organizing values. I think there's a lot that's valuable here about potential roadblocks to effective TJ processes, but the framing left a lot to be desired for me as a reader.

[James · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent overview of responses to sexual abuse within radical communities, ranging from 'beat them up' to 'talk therapy'.

My own community has serious problems with abuse. We get stuck on how to challenge it in a meaningful way. This zine was seriously helpful in unpicking that for me.

Other reviewers have noted transmisogynist framing of abuse in one of the articles collected in the zine. I don't think this substantially reduces the utility of the zine, but you may want to skip that passage. I would have strongly preferred the editor to have confronted the bigotry with an introductory note. Otherwise, no major criticisms.

[Sonia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really cool look into anarchist communities' responses to in-community instances of sexual assault/harassment and rape. I love that this zine discusses the differences between 'violence' vs 'dominance' and how violence in some cases can be used constructively, especially compared to the more 'civil' processes of transformative justice. I actually wished this was longer when specifically talking about retributive justice, but this zine is still a great place to start.

[Jun Ogata · Rating 4 out of 5]

This pamphlet does not propose that it holds the absolute solutions but provides invaluable tools and tactics for others to examine and build off of. It truly feels like one piece in, what will come to be, a collaborative effort to redefine and transform our world. The emphasis is so clearly set on continuously improving the methods. It's so appropriately self-critical, which makes me really appreciate it as a resource. Give it a go. It's only 80 pages and you can read it for free online.

[Savannah Simms]

Very dense but interesting. I wouldn’t recommend this to anyone who hasn’t already read about transformative justice, or anyone looking for a clear cut-and-dry / simple answer about what happens to rapists in an anarchist future. This is more of a short anthology about questions and considerations we should pay attention to as we try to figure out what practical applications of TJ and RJ look like

[rith · Rating 3 out of 5]

The zine does a good job of shining a light on the abuses of power that might still exist upon abolishing state retributive violence. However, I don’t think it addresses them appropriately. It is great kindling to spark a conversation but I felt like modes of engaging with rape and sexual assault leave a lot to be desired.