It’s time for Transformative Justice
Object lessons from the Epstein files, Part I
The most recent tranche of the Epstein files was packed with powerful people, transcending class, discipline, and sector (race, not so much). Bill Clinton, Larry Ellison, Bill Gates, Peter Attia, Noam Chomsky, Alan Dershowitz and more. At events where there was “no one over 25” (girls, of course), a central facet of the appeal was that children who looked like children would be on the menu. Whether they were technically over the age of consent or not, they could offer the perception of the illegal and abhorrent. And they were disposable. One brilliant Michaela Cole monologue dissects the irresistibility, how compelling it is for them to be at the boundary, in the grey, between right / wrong, legal / illegal.
Nevertheless, an imaginary (albeit convincing) line is drawn, separating the camaraderie, the science, the business from complicity with the systematic rape of children and trafficking of girls. It is plausible – they rarely (but not never) reference the thrill of their crimes – their entitlement allows no criminality... until the wall of silence is breached. Melinda French (formerly Gates) met with Epstein once to see what captivated her husband and immediately found Epstein to be “abhorrent… evil personified” and the environment intolerable. Even unspoken, the truth was in the toxic air. And thus, the Epstein Files become an object lesson for transformative justice approaches to child sex abuse.
What is transformative justice?
The criminal justice system does not always confer justice to victims or communities – it may become an equal or greater form of violence. Transformative justice seeks to build the capacity of communities to manage intra-community violence and individual justice claims, by promoting accountability and understanding carceral systems may not heal a collective failure to adhere to first principles and right relationship.
Transformative justice approaches recognize the rich and the powerful avoid the scrutiny and the tools of the carceral state – arrests, prosecution, imprisonment, surveillance. Their impunity is secured by perceptions of wealth, respectability, and omnipotence that create willing co-conspirators out of staff, colleagues, guests. Witnesses and bystanders rationalize inaction. Redemptive narratives abound, exempting victims from the social protections of age, law, social contract. Eventually, people pretend they didn’t see what was right before heir eyes.
Why transformative justice to end sexual abuse of children?
rates of child sex abuse have not decreased.
Despite years of focused attention, must arrest policies, enhanced surveillance and special task forces, rates of child sex abuse have not decreased. The possibility of punishment does not deter people who see themselves as invincible and not subject to ordinary justice. These numbers, like all numbers in sex abuse analysis, are somewhat notional. Some even say the increase in attention and reporting is balancing out the increase in resolving cases and removing abusers.
an ecosystem of support *also* insulates powerful people from accountability.
But the power and wealth create silence and complicity in varied ways, from fear to people’s belief that proximity to power will always benefit them. The complex gaslighting of victims seeking justice against Epstein, R. Kelly, P. Diddy, etc. deters justice-seekers. Victims were disregarded by justice systems, media, and even advocates for women.
What could transformative justice have looked like here?
Important movement work articulating transformative justice frameworks to protect children & transform harm underlies the work of Generation Five, one organization framing approaches to end child sex abuse within 5 generations – largely by transforming communities. In a transformative justice posture, the “bro code” would fail in the face of a heightened, credible risk.
Ideally, community care would render Epstein Island impossible – but if not, community accountability could– the cost would be apparent and severe for exploitation of children. An entire ecosystem could have raised the alarm decades ago, prompting the investigation of rumors, disappearances, and victims’ claims as a coordinated conspiracy, rather than a series of individuals to be discredited and disregarded. Celebrity or wealth would not insulate powerful men from accountability. Raping children would be a disqualifier, a crime against the community. The cost of associating with Epstein would be far too rich for most appetites. Whether it is because of shared love or shared fear for loss of reputation, community accountability does not stop at the courthouse doors and there would be fewer victims, and fewer predators.