Accountability is Active and Relational

Individuals, communities, and systems all create the environment where IPV occurs and the spaces where those harms can be addressed. People who cause harm are fully responsible for their behaviors and can choose to be accountable and change. Personal change requires an understanding of the root causes of thoughts, beliefs, feelings, and behaviors that harm self and others. Interpersonal, communal, and systemic accountability and support can increase the likelihood of a person’s choice to heal and change. System and community-based agencies should identify the harms they have created through oppressive practices and policies and remedy these barriers to safety, accountability, and healing for people who cause harm, survivors, and their children.

• Building Accountable Communities (Barnard Center for Research on Women, 2018)

• Relational and Systemic Accountability for Persons Who Use Violence (Futures Without Violence, 2019)
• Building Accountable Communities (Barnard Center for Research on Women, 2018)