Now showing 1 - 3 of 3
  • Publication
    Sexual violence and restorative practices in Belgium, Ireland and Norway: a thematic analysis of country variations
    The article compares and contrasts the provision of some restorative practices in cases of sexual violence in three European countries: Belgium, Ireland and Norway. It begins by briefly outlining efforts to address the ‘justice gap’ experienced by victims of sexual violence within conventional justice systems. The article points to calls for the development of alternative or complementary innovative justice responses to sexual violence. It suggests that restorative justice advocates believe they can deliver a participatory, empowering and flexible form of restorative justice, which can run in tandem with conventional criminal justice processes. However, it is noted that the application of restorative approaches to cases of sexual violence has engendered some controversy. The article points to considerable inter-country divergence in the extent to which restorative justice is accessible to victims of sexual crimes and to the emergence of country-specific patterns in the provision of restorative justice in cases of sexual violence.
      659
  • Publication
    Restorative justice and sexual offences: can 'changing lenses' be appropriate in this case too?
    (Walters Klumer/Heymanns, 2014-02) ;
    The use of restorative justice (RJ) for sexual violence has been the subject of on-going debate among RJ advocates, victim rights movement and feminist activists, for some time. This article will examine existing theories on restorative justice with a specific focus on the appropriateness of restorative justice for sexual violence. Theories surrounding the benefits of RJ in cases of sexual violence will be explored and comparisons will be drawn between the approaches taken by restorative justice and the traditional criminal justice system to address sexual violence. Concerns about the use of restorative justice for sexual violence will also be discussed, including concerns about re-victimization, power imbalances, due process rights of offenders and the relationship between restorative justice and the criminal justice system. Theoretical considerations of practical challenges such as the establishment of appropriate points of referral to restorative justice programmes and decisions regarding the types of sexual offences suitable for RJ will be examined in detail. The paper will conclude by offering some reflections as to possible ways forward.
      1176
  • Publication
    Researching 'under the radar' practices: exploring restorative practices in sexual violence cases
    (Victimology Society of Serbia, 2018-06) ; ;
    Sexual violence is a pernicious social phenomenon. The limited effectiveness of traditional justice responses has resulted in a search for alternative and innovative responses. This article highlights research regarding one such innovative response to sexual violence: restorative justice. The article outlines the multi-strategy research design adopted to explore the potential of restorative justice in cases of sexual violence before focusing in particular on one aspect of that design: a web-based survey used to map the global population of programmes engaging in these practices. The article highlights the many challenges inherent in researching emerging social responses and suggests that web-based surveys offer a means of mapping emerging or ‘under the radar’ practices and harvesting important qualitative data on sensitive topics. They may be especially valuable when populations are geographically dispersed. However, tailoring survey instruments for respondents who are multi-lingual presents difficulties particularly when the issues under investigation are linguistically and cognitively complex.
      474