From Harm to Healing
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In our healing work, we offer direct support services to those directly impacted to address the complex individual and collective grief and trauma caused by these injustices, including issues of gender violence, racial inequity, and social marginalization.
In our justice work, we focus on improving the justice system to prevent future harm and on restoring the voices of those harmed by helping them become change-makers for reform through training, advocacy, technical assistance and product development.
Through this unique combination of program services, we transform the lives and communities of those harmed and leverage their experiences to transform the justice system. Our model of transformative justice can be applied to all contexts and cases of injustice where healing is needed in order for justice to be achieved.
βNever have I been able to share my story and thoughts in such a safe and caring space. To be able to sit with others and share my experiences was just incredible. The support allowed me to move forward in my healing process.β
- Crime Survivor
βYour panel had a profound impact on our approach to post-conviction victim contact. We had a system in place before, but I walked away thinking that we could be doing so much more."
- Prosecutor
"Share, cry, release, laugh, heal. That's what Healing Justice is to me. Thank you for helping put me back together again."
- Family Member
Question: As a result of Healing Justiceβs presentation, please share action you will take to change your professional practice/performance.
Answer: βProvide victims and families with advocacy from start to finish. Keep them informed of all steps!β
- Victim Advocate
"So healing and therapeutic. I learned so much and can use these tools in life."
- Exoneree
βMy support family just grew by 25 people! [Healing Justice] has given me support beyond my imagination. Thank you.β
- Family Member
"I was able to reconnect to the person I left behind when I was sent to prison."
- Exoneree
βI Have not felt so safe since I was a child.β
- Crime Survivor
Healing Justice is a unique national nonprofit organization that utilizes restorative justice and justice reform to provide healing to individuals and families harmed by wrongful convictions and to prevent future harm. We seek to heal the lives of crime victims and survivors, those who have been exonerated, both sets of families, and many others. We also seek to transform the criminal legal system that serves them. To achieve its goals, Healing Justice offers:
Direct post-trial support and healing to crime victims, survivors, and their families;
Direct post-prison support and healing to returning citizens and their families in cases where innocence has been proven;
Opportunities for peer support and restorative justice to all impacted in these cases;
Education, training, and technical assistance to prosecutors, police, judges, victim advocates, and other justice professionals.
Healing Justice was founded by Jennifer Thompson based on her personal experience as a crime survivor whose case was overturned more than a decade after the trial and conviction when DNA evidence proved that the wrong man had been convicted. Jennifer became a pioneer of restorative justice in these cases through building a friendship with the innocent man wrongly convicted in her case. They later co-authored the bestselling book, Picking Cotton: Our Memoir of Injustice and Redemption.
Healing Justiceβs work is led by real people with lived experiences, all of whom contribute their own unique perspectives to our goals and programs. Through all of our work we strive to restore the voices of those harmed and provide them with peer support and individual healing. We also strive to build relationships across all stakeholders to create collective healing and prevent future harm.
Healing Justice is a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization (ID number 47-3424404). Our mailing address is: 11312 US 15-501 N, Suite 107 - #181, Chapel Hill, NC 27517. You can also reach us at: info@healingjusticeproject.org.