Alternative Justice Responses for Sexual Assault Survivors
Sexual assault is gendered. The disproportionate rate of sexual assault against women and gender-diverse people is compounded by other axes of oppression including racism, poverty, homophobia, lesbophobia, transphobia, and disability discrimination. Two-Spirit, trans, non-binary, and other gender-diverse communities experience high rates of sexual assault and intimate partner violence that is also gendered, but in more complex ways that do not always conform to dominant understandings of gender and gender-based violence.
Feminist organizations, including LEAF, have traditionally turned to criminal and civil law as important tools in working towards ending sexual assault and sexual violence in Canada. But do existing legal responses to sexual assault against women, trans, and non-binary people meet the needs of survivors? Are there alternatives to the criminal and civil justice systems that could better serve survivors’ needs?
On May 19, 2022 at 1:00 pm EST, please join us in welcoming Farrah Khan, Marlihan Lopez, Alison Morrison, and Deseray Rich for a discussion on alternative justice mechanisms for sexual assault and sexual violence survivors, moderated by Reakash Walters.
These advocates will consider how survivors seeking justice experience the criminal legal system; what justice mechanisms exist as alternatives to the traditional criminal process; and how or whether these alternative mechanisms might better serve the needs of survivors.
They will discuss campus sexual assault policies at Canadian universities, restorative justice, transformative justice, and specialized courts designed to respond specifically to violence against women. The speakers will provide concrete examples of what is working, what is not working, and offer potential paths forward for survivors of sexual abuse who are seeking justice.
This event will have simultaneous French language and ASL interpretation, as well as English-language live captioning. Les présentations se dérouleront en anglais, avec interprétation simultanée vers le français. Il y aura également des services d’interprétation en American Sign Language (ASL).