Read more about how restorative justice practitioners across the country, including us here at Common Justice, are developing solutions to violence based in accountability, without punishment 👇🏽
commonjustice.org/resource/sol...

Solutions To Violence: Creating Safety without Prisons or Policing | Common Justice

Punishment and accountability are not the same. Punishment is passive, reactive, often continues harm, and almost always fails to address repair. Accountability is active, ongoing, and includes obligations for repair. Punishment will never solve violence—only accountability can.

Is "doing sorry" harder than "doing time"?

Join a conversation with our founder and Executive Director, Danielle Sered and Ghani Songster from @thecfsy.bsky.social about why restorative justice isn't "soft on crime" but a rigorous path to real accountability. 🔗 www.eventbrite.com/e/doing-sorr...

The panels of the events sitting at a table together speaking.

We’re currently at @commonjustice.bsky.social’s “Every Road to Healing: Advancing Brooklyn’s Vision Community-Led Safety” event in downtown Brooklyn.

This conversation is about community-led solutions to safety and advancing survivor-centered policy.

If you care about the future of Brooklyn and want to see a safety model rooted in community care without relying on law enforcement, this town hall is for you. Don't miss out on being part of real change in your community. Register now 🔗 www.tinyurl.com/bktownhall2026

📣 Brooklyn, your voice matters now more than ever. With a new mayoral administration shaping the future of NYC, we need to ensure your vision for safety is in the room. Join us for a powerful conversation on building real safety and breaking down new victim compensation reforms. Learn more below 👇🏽

America Beyond Bars: The Importance of Abolition | Common Justice

Read the full blog, “America Beyond Bars: The Importance of Abolition" here 🔗

Something else is possible. From David Walker, to Ida B. Wells-Barnett, to Angela Davis, Black activists have advocated for abolition for centuries. At Common Justice, we continue their legacy, showing what real safety, equity, and accountability looks like without relying on incarceration.

Attending the NYSABPRHAL 55th Annual Conference? Join Common Justice VP Kira Shepherd on Feb 14 for the "Reimagining Safety" panel to explore how community-led, trauma-informed solutions and violence prevention and interruption deliver real public safety without relying on incarceration.

Ethical Storytelling for Grassroots Change | Common Justice This tool offers practical guidance on how to center storytellers' voices, avoid harmful practices, and challenge one-dimensional narratives that dominate mainstream discourse about violence.

Want to learn more? Visit the link below to read our full "Ethical Storytelling for Grassroots Change" report. 🔗

✅ Using storytelling as a tool to shift public perception,
influence policy, and catalyze systemic change that supports every community's inherent right to heal.

✅ Sharing the stories that highlight transformative, community-driven solutions to violence that do not rely on incarceration, but instead foster healing, accountability, and racial equity.

✅ Disrupting harmful and incomplete narratives that
misrepresent survivors and those who cause harm and
replacing them with narratives and stories that reflect the
complexity and humanity of all involved.

So, what does ethical storytelling look like? It's:

✅ Centering the voices and leadership of those directly
impacted by violence, ensuring they have the power to define their own stories, what safety means, and what healing looks like.

Narratives about survivors of violence can be deeply problematic. This Black History Month, we're taking a deep dive into ethical storytelling to reshape narratives about violence so we can challenge harmful stereotypes and put honest, holistic stories about impacted communities at the center. 🧵

Join us virtually TOMORROW at 6 PM to help shape our campaign to advance community-led solutions that transform violence locally in NYC. Register to join 🔗 www.tinyurl.com/janmembershipmeeting

How Black and Brown New Yorkers could benefit from new victims comp reforms NYC-based advocacy organization Common Justice suggests Black, Brown and Indigenous victims were less likely to be awarded compensation.

“This is really just a major win for all New Yorkers, but especially for Black and Brown New Yorkers," said Common Justice senior policy manager Tahirih Anthony. Read more about how recent changes to victim compensation have increased access to life-changing resources for countless survivors 🔗

Over the next few months, our members will co-create our campaign to advance community-led solutions that transform violence locally in NYC. Want to join our movement? Register for this month's virtual meeting 🔗 tinyurl.com/janmembershi...

Every month, our Civic Engagement team hosts a meeting for people affected by harm — survivors, people who have caused harm, and family members — to come together, build power, and create real community-led solutions to violence in our neighborhoods that don’t rely on policing and law enforcement.

Core Practices to Change the Narrative on Violence | Common Justice

Narrative power isn’t just about telling stories; it’s about which stories we put at the center and let guide our collective actions. To learn more about these practices on how to speak about violence responsibly, read our full "Core Practices to Change the Narrative on Violence" report 🔗

We can follow these core practices to change the narrative on violence:
✅ Do not minimize the frequency or impact of violence
✅ Offer an affirmative vision
✅ Uplift safety, survivors, & accountability

For too long, we've been fed stories that demonize people who commit violence, conflate Blackness and dangerousness, center certain survivors at the expense of others, and shut down new possibilities. It's time we challenge our assumptions so new solutions can arise. 👇🏽

Roots of Resilience provides critical support for survivors healing in the aftermath of harm, but we need your help to reach our goal. All donations will be matched 2:1 through December 31. Support our work and families in need by giving a gift today 🔗 www.commonjustice.org/donate

Every month, we host monthly meetings for community members to come together and build real community-led solutions. This month, we’re ending the year the way we began it: in community and with gratitude. Celebrate with us at our Holiday Party in NYC ❄️ Visit www.tinyurl.com/cjholiday2025 to RSVP!

To read the full collection of essays, visit www.tinyurl.com/rewrite-the-story

Understanding violence starts with understanding the story we tell about it. Our new report explores the ways mainstream outlets and individual media makers can reverse harmful narratives and paint a fuller, more nuanced picture of crime, violence, and safety that is transformative and healing.

We must create a future where real justice is achieved through community-based responses to violence that are rooted in healing and repair. #TransgenderDayofRemembrance

Research shows nearly 1 in 6 transgender Americans, and 1 in 2 Black transgender people, has been incarcerated at some point in their lives. The violence of the carceral system only deepens the harm faced by marginalized communities. This is not safety.

Conversations about decarceration must include the impact of mass incarceration on the LGBTQIA+ community. Transgender people are especially at risk - both for contact with the criminal legal system and for harassment and violence once detained. A 🧵:

Applications close TOMORROW 📣 Apply now: commonjustice.org/civicengagem...