Institutional Critique and Systemic Responsibility

Sor Juana risked her reputation and safety by critiquing institutional power—the Church's suppression of women's intellectual work, colonial structures of exploitation. Her willingness to name systemic injustice models how justice must extend beyond individual accountability to institutional transformation. Punitive systems often individualize harm, focusing exclusively on the person who directly caused injury while leaving enabling institutions unexamined and unchanged. A truly restorative approach includes institutional critique: examining how workplaces enabled harassment, how educational systems failed to teach respect, how economic desperation shaped harm. This requires a different kind of accountability than individuals face—structural change, policy revision, resource reallocation. Sor Juana's example shows that intellectual work and public discourse are tools for this critique. Contemporary restorative justice must create space for community members to articulate how systems enabled harm, for institutions to genuinely examine their role, and for transformation beyond individual promises. This might include institutional representatives in accountability processes, structural changes to prevent future harm, and investment in conditions that support dignity and safety. Justice becomes incomplete without addressing the systems that made harm possible.