Social Justice

Definition: Victim blaming is the tendency to attribute a problem to the characteristics of the people who are its victims. An important function of victim-blaming is that it allows those in the advantaged segment of society to avoid blaming themselves for the problems experienced by a subordinate group. From this viewpoint, little reason exists for the members of a majority group to address issues of inequity, discrimination, or bigotry. Victim blaming alleviates the burden of guilt for doing nothing.

Source: Social Justice Solutions

Definition: Blaming the victim refers to the tendency to hold victims of negative events responsible for those outcomes (Ryan, 1971; Eigenberg and Garland, 2008). While victim-blaming can occur in a variety of situations, it appears to be particularly likely in cases of sexual assault (Bieneck and Krahé, 2011).

Source: Harvard Diversity, Equity, Access, Inclusion & Belonging

Definition: On June 15, 2012, the secretary of Homeland Security announced that certain people who came to the United States as children and meet several guidelines may request consideration of deferred action for a period of two years, subject to renewal. They are also eligible for work authorization. Deferred action is a use of prosecutorial discretion to defer removal action against an individual for a certain period of time. Deferred action does not provide lawful status.

Source: U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services

Definition: An acronym to Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) is a policy that allows certain individuals who meet program requirements to get request a grant of deferred action. Individuals who are granted DACA are able to renew their grant and are eligible for work authorization.

Source: Immigrant Legal Resource Center

Definition: The DREAM Act (short for Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors Act) was a bill in Congress that would have granted legal status to certain undocumented immigrants who were brought to the United States as children and went to school here.

Source: ADL Fighting hate for good

Definition: The Dream Act of 2021 was introduced on February 4, 2021 in the Senate by Senators Dick Durbin and Lindsey
Graham.7 The two senators introduced identical legislation in the previous two sessions of Congress. The Dream Act would permanently protect certain immigrants who came to the United States as children but are vulnerable to deportation. Dream Actwould provide current, former, and future undocumented high-school graduates and GED recipients a pathway to U.S. citizenship through college, work, or the armed services.

Source: Adapted from American Immigration Council

Definition: A hate crime is a traditional offense like murder, arson, or vandalism with an added element of bias. For the purposes of collecting statistics, the FBI has defined a hate crime as a “criminal offense against a person or property motivated in whole or in part by an offender’s bias against a race, religion, disability, sexual orientation, ethnicity, gender, or gender identity.” Hate itself is not a crime—and the FBI is mindful of protecting freedom of speech and other civil liberties. Hate crimes are the highest priority of the FBI’s civil rights program because of the devastating impact they have on families and communities.

Source: Adapted from FBI.org

Definition: Law or legislation that designates a crime as being motivated by hate for the actual or perceived race, color, religion, national origin, ethnicity, gender, disability, or sexual orientation of any person and assigns a greater penalty for conviction of such a crime.

Source: Diversity and Social Justice Glossary – University of Washington | Tacoma

Definition: A crime motivated by the actual or perceived race, color, religion, national origin, ethnicity, gender, disability or sexual orientation of the victim.

Source: ICMA – International City/County Management Association

Definition: There is no international legal definition of hate speech, and the characterization of what is ‘hateful’ is controversial and disputed. The term hate speech is understood as any kind of communication in speech, writing or behavior, that attacks or uses pejorative or discriminatory language with reference to a person or a group on the basis of who they are, in other words, based on their religion, ethnicity, nationality, race, color, descent, gender or other identity factor. This is often rooted in, and generates intolerance and hatred and, in certain contexts, can be demeaning and divisive.

Source: Adapted from United Nations and Plan of Action on the Hate Speech

Definition: There is no legal definition of “hate speech” under U.S. law, just as there is no legal definition for evil ideas, rudeness, unpatriotic speech, or any other kind of speech that people might condemn. Generally, however, hate speech is any form of expression through which speakers intend to vilify, humiliate, or incite hatred against a group or a class of persons on the basis of race, religion, skin color sexual identity, gender identity, ethnicity, disability, or national origin.

Source: ALA – American Library Association

Definition: In 2006, the “me too.” Movement was founded by survivor and activist Tarana Burke. They work to build a community of advocates determined to interrupt sexual violence wherever it happens. In 2017, the #metoo hashtag went viral and woke up the world to the magnitude of the problem of sexual violence.

Source: Me Too.

Definition: Reparations serve to acknowledge the legal obligation of a state, or individual(s) or group, to repair the consequences of violations — either because it directly committed them or it failed to prevent them. They also express to victims and society more generally that the state is committed to addressing the root causes of past violations and ensuring they do not happen again.

Source: ICTJ – Justice, Truth, Dignity

Definition: States have a legal duty to acknowledge and address widespread or systematic human rights violations in cases where the state caused the violations or did not seriously try to prevent them. Reparations initiatives seek to address the harms caused by these violations. Reparations publicly affirm that victims are rights-holders entitled to redress.

Reparations can take the form of compensating for the losses suffered, which helps overcome some of the consequences of abuse. They can also be future-oriented—providing rehabilitation and a better life to victims—and help to change the underlying causes of abuse.

Source: ICMA – International City/County Management Association

Definition: Restorative Justice is a theory of justice that emphasizes repairing the harm caused by crime and conflict. It places decisions in the hands of those who have been most affected by a wrongdoing, and gives equal concern to the victim, the offender, and the surrounding community. Restorative responses are meant to repair harm, heal broken relationships, and address the underlying reasons for the offense. Restorative Justice emphasizes individual and collective accountability. Crime and conflict generate opportunities to build community and increase grassroots power when restorative practices are employed.

Source: Racial Equity Tools – The Movement for Black Lives (M4BL), “Glossary.”

Definition: Restorative Justice allows people affected by crime to communicate with the person responsible, often with the aim of a face to face meeting.

This gives them the chance to talk about the incident. They can explain how it has impacted them, seek assurances that it won’t happen again, and agree on how to put things right. Restorative Justice also leads to a significant drop in re-offending, as it helps people who have committed crimes to recognise the harm they have caused. Restorative practice can also be used to address non-criminal harm.

Source: Adapted from Why me.org

Definition: A more formal definition is this: Restorative Justice is a theory of justice that emphasizes repairing the harm caused by criminal behavior. It is best accomplished through cooperative processes that allow all willing stakeholders to meet, although other approaches are available when that is impossible. This can lead to transformation of people, relationships and communities.

The foundational principles of restorative justice have been summarized as follows:

1. Crime causes harm and justice should focus on repairing that harm.
2. The people most affected by the crime should be able to participate in its resolution.
3. The responsibility of the government is to maintain order and of the community to build peace.

Source: Centre for Justice & Reconciliation

Definition: The term safe space has become part of recent controversy surrounding a larger debate regarding freedom of expression on college campuses. An exploration of the term’s use, however, shows that it has been appropriated by the media and campus administrators without a clear understanding of the nuanced context from which it has been drawn. Furthermore, a 2013 publication by Brian Arao and Kristi Clemens described how the term brave space may more aptly describe the practice of safely fostering challenging dialogue within the classroom environment.

Source: NASPA Research and Policy Institute – Sage Spaces and Brave Spaces

Definition: Safe spaces are environments in which students can explore ideas and express themselves in a context with well-understood ground rules for the conversation. For instance, a school or university might create a safe space for LGBTQ students in which students know they can discuss issues of sexual identity or gender and will not be made to feel marginalized for their perspective or exploration. Ideally, these safe spaces would also be environments in which students would find support, develop coping skills, and hone effective techniques for communicating with one another in a way that honors tolerance, avoids stereotypes, and cuts down on hate on campuses.

Brave spaces are those learning environments in which the primary purpose of the interaction is a search for the truth, rather than support for a particular group of students, even insofar as some of the discussions will be uncomfortable for certain students.

Source: Adapted from Brave Spaces.org

Definition: Social justice may be broadly understood as the fair and compassionate distribution of the fruits of economic growth.

Source: United Nations

Definition: Social justice encompasses economic justice. Social justice is the virtue which guides us in creating those organized human interactions we call institutions. In turn, social institutions, when justly organized, provide us with access to what is good for the person, both individually and in our associations with others. Social justice also imposes on each of us a personal responsibility to work with others to design and continually perfect our institutions as tools for personal and social development.

Source: Center for Economic and Social Justice

Definition: A targeted universal strategy is one that is inclusive of the needs of both the dominant and the marginal groups, but pays particular attention to the situation of the marginal group. For example, if the goal were to open up housing opportunity for low-income whites and non-whites, one would look at the different constraints for each group. Targeted universalism rejects a blanket universal which is likely to be indifferent to the reality that different groups are situated differently relative to the institutions and resources of society. It also rejects the claim of formal equality that would treat all people the same as a way of denying difference. Any proposal would be evaluated by the outcome, not just the intent. While the effort would be universal for the poor, it would be especially sensitive to the most marginal groups.

Source: John A. Powell, Post-racialism or Targeted Universalism? 86 Denver University Law Review (2009)

Definition: Targeted universalism means setting universal goals pursued by targeted processes to achieve those goals. Within a targeted universalism framework, universal goals are established for all groups concerned. The strategies developed to achieve those goals are targeted, based upon how different groups are situated within structures, culture, and across geographies to obtain the universal goal. Targeted universalism is goal oriented, and the processes are directed in service of the explicit, universal goal.

Source: Othering & Belonging Institute

Definition: Targeted universalism suggests that everyone in society should aspire towards the same universal goal, but each group in society may require a different policy strategy to help them reach it.

Source: National Juvenile Justice Network

Definition: Transformative justice (TJ) sets out to transform people for the better. As expressed by Wozniak, TJ seeks to change the larger social structure as well as the personal structure of those involved. Realizing the unjustness of our current criminal justice system, transformative justice wants to be productive by providing victims with answers for why they were victimized, recognizing the wrong that has occurred, providing restitution, and restoring/establishing peace and security.

Source: Center for Justice & Reconciliation

Definition: Transformative Justice (TJ) is a political framework and approach for responding to violence, harm and abuse. At its most basic, it seeks to respond to violence without creating more violence and/or engaging in harm reduction to lessen the violence. TJ can be thought of as a way of “making things right,” getting in “right relation,” or creating justice together. Transformative justice responses and interventions

1. do not rely on the state (e.g. police, prisons, the criminal legal system, I.C.E., foster care system (though some TJ responses do rely on or incorporate social services like counseling);
2. do not reinforce or perpetuate violence such as oppressive norms or vigilantism; and most importantly,
3. actively cultivate the things we know prevent violence such as healing, accountability, resilience, and safety for all involved.

TJ was created by and for many of these communities (e.g. indigenous communities, black communities, immigrant communities of color, poor and low-income communities, communities of color, people with disabilities, sex workers, queer and trans communities). It is important to remember that many of these people and communities have been practicing TJ in big and small ways for generations–trying to create safety and reduce harm within the dangerous conditions they were and are forced to live in.

Source: TransformHarm.org

Definition: A stimulus that elicits a reaction. For example, an event could be a trigger for a memory of a past experience and an accompanying state of emotional arousal.

Source: American Psychological Association – Dictionary of Psychology

Definition: A trigger is something that an individual says or does an organizational policy or practice that makes us, as members of social groups feel diminished, offended, threatened, stereotyped, discounted, or attacked. Triggers do not necessarily threaten our physical safety. We often feel psychologically threatened. We can also be triggered on behalf of another social group. Though we do not feel personally threatened, our sense of social justice feels violated.

Triggers cause an emotional response. These emotions include hurt, confusion, anger, fear, surprise, or embarrassment. We respond to triggers in a variety of ways, some helpful and other not.

Source: Adams, M., Bell, L.A., Griffin, P. (Eds). Teaching for Diversity and Social Justice, a Sourcebook (1997)

Definition: Anyone residing in any given country without legal documentation. It includes people who entered the U.S. without inspection and proper permission from the government, and those who entered with a legal visa that is no longer valid.

Source: Defining undocumented – Immigrants Rising.org