Building Narrative Frameworks for Justice

📣 NEW ARTICLE: "Beyond the Binary: Forging a new narrative for criminal justice" "We cannot win a battle of narratives when the terms of engagement have been rigged from the start. What we need isn't better arguments for prevention, but an entirely new language for justice." For decades, those of us working in criminal justice have been trapped in an asymmetric narrative battle between punishment and prevention - a battle we cannot win on current terms. In my latest article, I explore why traditional advocacy for prevention-focused approaches so often fails, and propose a fundamental shift in how we frame justice: • Moving beyond the false dichotomy of punishment vs prevention • Building narratives around genuine shared values across the political spectrum • Using trauma as a unifying framework that acknowledges harm while explaining its origins • Creating new metrics that measure actual public safety outcomes, not just system outputs The recent controversy over pre-sentence reports demonstrates precisely why we need this new approach. This isn't about being "soft" or "tough" on crime: it's about creating a system that actually works to reduce harm, promote accountability, empower communities, and use resources effectively. Read the full article to learn how we might build this new narrative for justice together. This is a generational project, and one we must undertake if we hope to create meaningful change. #CriminalJusticeReform #Criminology #PublicPolicy #TraumaInformed #SocialChange

#Storytelling isn’t just a communication strategy or influence tactic—it’s a #participatory methodological approach. In my latest article, I explore storytelling as a decolonial, feminist, and co-creative research practice that moves beyond extractive methods toward #emancipatory knowledge co-production. By centring on diverse participant voices and intersectional power dynamics in the ‘storying stories’ process, I argue for balancing the #authenticity of lived experiences with critical #reflective analysis grounded in multilayered intersubjectivities and intertextuality. This paper develops a four-stage storytelling framework—from design, conduct, sense-making, to curation—to guide researchers and practitioners in amplifying participant agency and crafting alternative, justice-oriented narratives. This paper is part of the forthcoming special issue of “Public Relations and Social Justice” in the journal of Public Relations Inquiry. Huge thanks to the editors, reviewers, and especially the multicultural participants of my #QRRRF funded disaster storytelling project, who helped shape this work. Open access full article: https://lnkd.in/gRZdj6RU #storytelling #participatoryresearch #methodology #publicrelations #socialjustice #DiverseVoices #PRInquiry QUT (Queensland University of Technology) Queensland Reconstruction Authority National Emergency Management Agency Ethnic Communities Council of Queensland Cairns Regional Council Centacare FNQ QUT Digital Media Research Centre

As locally rooted approaches gain recognition in justice research and practice, this document presents a comprehensive, field-based framework for applying Community-Based Participatory Research (CBPR) in rural access-to-justice initiatives. It does not merely promote inclusion—it redefines research as a shared space for knowledge production, advocacy, and structural transformation. M&E professionals, legal empowerment actors, and community researchers are invited to approach evidence generation as a co-owned, co-led process that values lived experience, African knowledge systems, and collaborative reform. Here, CBPR is not a method—it is a philosophy of power-sharing, voice, and institutional legitimacy. – It defines CBPR as a participatory, equity-based approach where communities co-design, implement, and benefit from the research – It introduces a mixed-methods strategy blending qualitative and quantitative tools to evaluate case management, cost-benefit impact, and governance – It applies a multiple case study design across ten rural Community Advice Offices (CAOs) in five South African provinces – It outlines sampling frameworks for paralegals, service recipients, case narratives, and organizational affiliates – It presents data collection techniques including interviews, focus groups, document reviews, archival case analysis, and policy mapping – It integrates advocacy research principles with African epistemologies and plural legal systems – It promotes matrix analysis, interpretive phenomenology, and triangulation as strategies for data analysis and interpretation – It builds a foundation for evidence-informed policy dialogue, statutory recognition, and sustainability of community-based justice systems Fusing grassroots engagement with academic rigor, this guide equips practitioners to transform research into a tool for inclusion, recognition, and institutional learning. Each section reinforces CBPR as a platform for shifting power, deepening trust, and reimagining justice through shared authority. More than a methodology, it is a strategic instrument for building equitable systems from the ground up.

Author Solon Simmons is the director of The Narrative Transformation Lab at George Mason University’s Carter School for Peace and Conflict Resolution. His latest book is a fascinating explanation of how the way we tell stories about conflict can create opportunities for political struggle, reconciliation or self-realization. Simmons suggests that there are four main prototypes of conflict stories and illustrates these using dramatic fiction (movies and novels) that fit the genres. His four prototypes include two story types that are based on a struggle against and adversary – if the protagonist wins the struggle, this is romance; if the protagonist loses, this is satire. The other two story types are based on a journey framework – if the protagonist is successful in their journey, this is comedy, and if unsuccessful, this is tragedy. Simmons suggests that the two struggle stories are useful if you are wanting justice, but the journey stories are more useful in you are wanting peace and reconciliation. Which story form you choose, and how it ends, gives rise to what Simmons calls “post-plot pressure”, a sense of anxiety or yearning that motivates the audience to do something in response to the story. A struggle story leaves the audience renewed in their awareness of and motivation to fight injustice. A journey story leaves the audience with greater insight and willingness to tackle the challenges of collaborative problem solving. Simmons explains that: “Given the world in which we live, any good peace story has got to confront the problem of injustice in the short term, but it ultimately as to tackle the challenge of solving problems together in the long run.” Simmon’s book is a brilliant addition to our growing awareness of the importance of story structure on how we experience (and hopefully resolve) conflict.