# Survivor-Centered Transformative Justice: An Approach to Designing Alongside Domestic Violence Stakeholders in US Muslim Communities

## TL;DR

This paper explores how a survivor-centered transformative justice approach can be designed to support Muslim women in the US experiencing domestic violence, emphasizing autonomy, systemic harm, and community involvement.

## Contribution

It adapts a transformative justice framework specifically for Muslim communities, providing guidelines for designing interventions that prioritize survivor autonomy and systemic change.

## Key findings

- Victim-survivors' autonomy is often compromised in abuse and justice processes.
- Insights from interviews highlight intervention points for harm reduction and healing.
- Guidelines for designing systemic and community-based support are proposed.

## Abstract

While domestic violence (DV) is prevalent in all socioeconomic settings, identity highly impacts how one experiences and recovers from abuse. This work examines US-based Muslim women's challenges when seeking help and healing from domestic violence. Through participatory interviews with 23 participants within the DV ecosystem, we find that victim-survivors' autonomy is compromised throughout the abuse, within their immediate communities, and when involving the criminal justice system. To address such harms, we adapt a survivor-centered transformative justice (SCTJ) approach, a framework to discern individual and systemic harm, to understand how to design alongside victim-survivors, and to focus on victim-survivors' autonomy. We explain under what conditions an SCTJ approach may be productive for designers. We use insights from our interviews to highlight intervention areas for reducing harm, repairing harm, and promoting healing for victim-survivors. Lastly, we offer guidelines to design for harm reduction, accountability, and systemic change.