AIM Framework glossary
Cascading Support
Canonical definition
Cascading Support is a general rule that follows from AIM’s premise, that after Harm or crisis, institutions must first restore victims’ and dependants’ A and I, then repair the costs borne by helpers in expanding circles, extending the same provision, on the same gradient of deformation, to the field around the offender, the dependants, households and communities anchored to those who produced the act, before turning to consequences for offenders (if caused by an offender).
Explanation
Support cascades outward from those directly harmed to those who stepped in to help, so that no one ends up worse off for doing the right thing. This reverses retributive priorities: the first success condition for justice is that needs are met and intrinsic projects can resume, not that the offender has suffered enough. It also reaches the offender's own family and community, who did nothing and are harmed by what is done to the offender; leaving them stripped is how the next round begins. The settlement that rebuilt the defeated nations after 1945 did this at the scale of whole populations.
Epistemic status
Framework-Specific Construct.
Derivation
Chapter 16, Section 16.15; Chapter 16, Section 16.14; Chapter 17, Section 17.19; Appendix A, Section A.5.5.