HARM TO HEALING REPORT (2023)
READ THE REPORT
Harm to Healing: Resisting Racial Injustice in the Criminal Legal System of England and Wales (2023)
By Temi Mwale & Dr Patrick Williams
Commissioned by the AB Charitable Trust and authored by Temi Mwale and Patrick Williams, this report helped lay the foundations for a new movement infrastructure rooted in healing, community power and justice beyond criminalisation.
This report was a call to recognise the scale of harm being inflicted on Black communities through racialised criminalisation - and the urgent need to invest in healing, safety and community-led solutions. Grounded in the experiences, knowledge and leadership of Black-led ‘by and for’ organisations across England and Wales, the report documented the devastating impacts of the criminal legal system while also illuminating the extraordinary work communities have long been doing to resist harm, hold one another and build alternative futures.
At its heart, the report made a clear argument: while billions continue to be invested into policing, punishment and surveillance, Black communities have been left to survive profound disinvestment, despite already holding the knowledge, relationships and practices needed to create safety, healing and transformation.
The findings revealed not only the depth of racial injustice, but also the power, creativity and commitment of grassroots organisations working with limited resources to protect communities from harm. These organisations were shown to be doing vital work: challenging institutional racism, supporting families, resisting criminalisation, creating opportunities for young people and building spaces of dignity, belonging and care.
Importantly, the report also highlighted the severe lack of long-term investment available to Black-led infrastructure and the exhausting reality of surviving through short-term, precarious funding. Yet even within these conditions, organisations continued to imagine and build pathways from harm to healing.
This report paved the way for what would later become the Harm to Healing Seed Phase - mobilising relationships, evidence, vision and momentum towards a larger ecosystem approach. It strengthened the case for significant investment into community-led healing and justice infrastructure and contributed to the emergence of Harm to Healing as a new organisation rooted in the belief that communities closest to harm must be resourced to lead the way forward.