When we look back at crime, justice, and healing, there are patterns that have emerged indefinitely. For example, in 1992, Minneapolis police were called to the home of a domestic violence incident between a married couple. Thirty minutes after they arrived, police killed the man, Theodore Bobo, shooting him eight times. A Minnesota Women’s Press article noted: “Questions were raised by the Black community. Did the police have special training in handling domestic violence? Why were so many officers in the room? Why weren’t any of Bobo’s friends or relatives called in to talk to him? Couldn’t the police have shot to disarm Bobo rather than kill him?”
Assumpta Kintu, a legal advocate for battered women at the Minneapolis Intervention Project, was quoted, saying: “[Women of color] struggle with two issues always. First, they want to have a violence-free home for themselves and their children. Second, they want to ensure that, in obtaining safety, they don’t hand their men over to a judicial system which is racist, from law enforcement to the courts.’”
The Minnesota Women’s Press Transforming Justice newsletter focuses on how we respond to trauma, mental health issues, and substance use — that include the insights of different community cultures, that work to correct the racism embedded in our systems, and with treatment options that do not simply rely on incarceration.
Details: womenspress.com/transformingjustice
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