Ching-In Chen

This book is a collection of personal memoirs and reflections by a cross section of young activists on the subject of interpersonal sexual violence. Except for in one case, the book's authors employ opaque placeholder language like "community accountability" as a panacea cure-all that will, in the fullness of time, realise the optimum balance of justice and mercy in dealing with those accused of violence. The book has no suggestions or hope for corrective, however, and "community accountability" is never even remotely articulated in concrete steps as a process or mechanism for resolving such violence. Indeed, the book does not outline or hint at any procedure or means to addressing the problems it identifies through anecdotes. It is an intervention of "me too" rather than "now what". On the contrary, at multiple places, the authors express their contempt for procedural justice ("due process" in USA or "fundamental justice" in Canada), and it seems they are advocating for a kind of atonement ceremony (where the person complained about is by that fact alone "the guilty" and person who complained is, similarly, by that fact alone "the victim") rather than any sincere attempt at preserving truth or achieving justice as a matter of genuine investigation.… (meer)