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

Title of the Paper

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

Paper Information

• Subject Area: Human-Computer Interaction (HCI), social justice theory, and its application in addressing domain-specific issues (gender-based violence in domestic violence)
• Keywords: social justice, participatory design, domestic violence, gender-based violence, transformative justice, restorative justice, socio-technical systems, harm reduction, Islamic HCI

Research Background and Problem

• Identified Problems or Challenges:

  • Muslim women in the US facing domestic violence (DV) encounter complex social and systemic barriers, including racial discrimination, religious bias, and gaps in both legal systems and community support.
  • Survivors often face rejection within their communities and encounter obstacles from judicial systems and mainstream service providers when seeking help.
  • Faith leaders (e.g., Imams), as initial points of contact, may lack the knowledge, skills, or impartiality needed, potentially causing further harm to survivors.
  • Current mainstream service approaches often fail to address the cultural and religious needs of Muslim women, sometimes leading to secondary trauma.

• Significance:

  • Domestic violence affects individuals' right to survival, sense of safety, and mental health, with marginalized Muslim women often experiencing more severe harm.
  • The lack and limitations of existing support and intervention measures leave many survivors trapped in prolonged abusive environments, unable to seek relief or heal from trauma.
  • Researching and designing culturally tailored technological solutions to these issues can help protect the rights of vulnerable groups.

• Research Motivation and Related Work:

  • While restorative justice (RJ) and transformative justice (TJ) theories address broad societal issues, their application in domestic violence remains methodologically and practically contentious.
  • Although HCI research has made progress in adopting social justice-oriented approaches, it has primarily focused on public issues, neglecting private and long-term familial problems.
  • This study aims to combine participatory design methods with a survivor-centered transformative justice framework to explore how technological design can intervene in complex, long-standing issues of gender-based and domestic violence.

Solution

• Proposed Methods or Solutions:

  • Adopting a Survivor-Centered Transformative Justice (SCTJ) framework.
  • Using participatory design interviews and cross-context data collection to identify the experiences and challenges faced by survivors of domestic violence within Muslim communities.
  • Designing three interconnected levels of technological interventions: micro-level (direct individual support), mezzo-level (organizational and community), and macro-level (systemic legislative and policy changes).

• Innovative Aspects:

  • Combining transformative justice (TJ) and restorative justice (RJ) theories into a flexible survivor-centered approach.
  • Innovatively applying HCI design frameworks to expand technological intervention resources for Muslim women and their communities in addressing domestic violence.
  • A layered intervention mechanism (micro, mezzo, macro levels) ensures context-specific design, providing comprehensive support from individuals to broader communities.

• Implementation Steps and Key Techniques:

  • Conducting interviews with 23 key stakeholders, including social workers addressing domestic violence, survivors, and representatives of Imams.
  • Employing semi-structured interviews and participatory design approaches to invite participants to propose and co-create potential technological solutions (e.g., designing safer mobile applications, community support platforms).
  • Collecting and analyzing multidimensional information, performing cross-group thematic comparisons, and summarizing design directions.

Research Outcomes

• Specific Outcomes:

  • Identified and categorized key challenges faced by domestic violence survivors in Muslim communities, such as digital safety, lack of social support, and difficulties in accessing information and resources.
  • Proposed a layered design intervention mechanism based on the SCTJ framework and HCI design principles.
  • Provided technological design recommendations, including enhanced information retrieval tools, covert applications, and secure alert systems.

• Advantages Over Existing Solutions:

  • Offers more targeted solutions by addressing the specific needs of cultural groups.
  • Extends the scope of domestic violence solutions by integrating religious and cultural values into the design.
  • Focuses on survivors' rights within structural systems while improving community support and institutional responsiveness.

• Experimental Results or Evaluation:

  • Participatory interviews provided feedback from survivors and service providers on the current technological solutions.
  • Proposed intervention suggestions were widely recognized, particularly in addressing the lack of capacity among community leaders and the fragmentation of social services.

• Limitations and Future Directions:

  • The study did not include direct interviews with mainstream service providers (e.g., police, shelter staff) or perpetrators, potentially leading to incomplete insights.
  • The long-term effects and practical feasibility of technological interventions require further empirical validation.
  • Future work could focus on similar studies across interfaith and intercultural groups and collaborate with multiple service agencies to establish comprehensive solutions.

This paper demonstrates how social justice-oriented design can leverage technology to address culturally specific gender issues in domestic violence, providing significant theoretical and practical contributions to the integration of HCI and social services.