BEYOND JUSTICE-REINTERPRETING JUSTICE THROUGH JAIN LENS

Day02. Wednesday, July 08, 18:00 EDT

An exploration of how Jainism challenges dominant notions of justice, rooted in fairness and retribution, & helps critique a system of crime and punishment where violence has become an inherent attribute. By assessing the boundaries & possibilities of the NYPD complaint report to register criminal activities, this talk considers how we might leverage Jainism to reimagine & reconsider how the criminal justice system works in the US & how we define justice as a society.

Beyond Justice is an exploration of the current boundaries and possibilities of the complaint report worksheet used by the NYPD to register any criminal activity. This artifact of the justice system opens a window of possibility to re-imagine and reconsider how the criminal justice system works in the US and how we define justice as a society.

By introducing an alternate ideological framework, in this case, Jainism it challenges the dominant notions of justice which are rooted in fairness and retribution. Jainism offers a thorough critique of a system of crime and punishment where violence becomes an inherent attribute‚ proposing a path of extreme non-violence, this transdisciplinary exploration of the justice system centers on forgiveness.

Ayushi Jain is a researcher, strategist, and system designer passionate about working on complex social issues. With a focus on the design for pluriverse she loves diving deep into alternate (often marginalized) epistemologies, challenging the ideals of techno-secularism, hypercapitalism, euro-centrism, and progressive liberalism. Over the past eight years, she has worked with cross-cultural teams across six countries, developing innovative interventions. Her international portfolio includes public sector agencies; eminent NGOs; and design consultancies.