Restorative justice in the context of gender-based violence and harm

This chapter focuses on efforts to engage men and boys in preventing gender-based violence (GBV). We examine violence prevention efforts at the individual, family, community, and global levels. We highlight a range of innovative approaches from around the world, including restorative justice practices, online programs, culturally focused counseling, working with fathers and their children to recognize and prevent intergenerational violence, enhancing men’s capacity to support their pregnant partners, and involving men as allies in the effort to prevent violence against women.

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Transformative justice and restorative justice: Gender-based violence and alternative visions of justice in the United States

International Review of Victimology ◽

10.1177/0269758020970414 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 026975802097041

Author(s):

Mimi E. Kim

Keyword(s):

United States ◽

Restorative Justice ◽

Interpersonal Violence ◽

Historical Analysis ◽

Mass Incarceration ◽

The United States ◽

Gender Based Violence ◽

Transformative Justice ◽

Legal Literature ◽

Gender Based

In the United States, the contemporary feminist movement against gender-based violence started in the early 1970s, just as ideologies and policies supporting mass criminalization launched what became a five-fold rise in U.S. rates of incarceration. Since the new millennium, people of color have taken the lead in re-envisioning fundamental notions of justice given the dramatic backdrop of mass incarceration and the recent upsurge in prison abolitionist possibilities. Central to this reformulation has been a social justice critique that recognizes the intersection of gender-based violence and other forms of interpersonal violence with the violence of the state, most concentrated within U.S. carceral institutions. While the U.S. roots of violence as well as resistance to this violence extend back to the earliest days of colonial occupation, the contemporary manifestation of the anti-violence struggle has taken on the labels of restorative justice and, more recently, transformative justice. This conceptual paper relies upon historical analysis of the contemporary anti-violence movement, secondary legal literature, and insider social movement knowledge to trace recent trends in the movement to redefine notions of justice in its application to gender-based violence, the contrasting trajectories of restorative justice and transformative justice, and the liberatory vision and practices of transformative justice.

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USE OF RESTORATIVE JUSTICE IN THE CONTEXT OF INTIMATE PARTNERS VIOLENCE

Knowledge International Journal ◽

10.35120/kij28061931v ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 28 (6) ◽

pp. 1931-1938

Author(s):

Vesna Stefanovska

Keyword(s):

Domestic Violence ◽

Restorative Justice ◽

Violent Behavior ◽

Intimate Partners ◽

Gender Based Violence ◽

Primary Focus ◽

Gender Based ◽

Mutual Relations ◽

The Right ◽

Sense Of Justice

The question of the use of restorative justice (RJ) in cases of domestic violence among intimate partners has caused the greatest resistance and controversy among proponents of restorative justice. The reasons are in the nature and in the characteristics inherent in that violence: the presence of control and power over the victim, loss of trust, gender-based violence, cultural differences in certain communities, the possibility of escalation of the violence, its possible longer use, failure of the community to protect the victim etc. Hence, a particular group of feminists believe that restorative justice lacks awareness of gender inequality, which is behind the background of violence against women. A number of comparative analyzes of the application of restorative justice in cases of domestic violence in a number of countries in the world find that RJ is a successful way of dealing with that kind of violence. So, despite a series of criticisms and possible risks from the application of restorative justice in such cases, RJ receives support because can better addresses the problem of that type of violence and meet the needs of the victim. An additional reason is the failure of the formal court trials to ensure adequate protection of victims, to satisfy the sense of justice and to meet their needs. On the other hand, in relation to the perpetrator, violent behavior towards the intimate partner is a symptom of a deep problem in the attitude towards the victim and, in general, a problem that should be specifically approached in order to consider not only the consequences, but also the origin of his own aggression. Given the above, there are numerous benefits from restorative justice in cases of violence among intimate partners: the right to actively participate and to resolve the problem, encouragement, greater degree of responsibility of the offender, a flexible and informal process that is less frightening for the victim, opportunity for dialogue and communicatiom, the opportunity to treat the problem of violence for those who want to improve mutual relations and stay together. In this context, the primary focus should not be to resolve the conflict, but to treat the sides through confrontation and dialogue, because in this way, positive results can be achieved.Those issues related to the possible risks, but also to the benefits and perspectives of the application of restorative justice in cases of domestic violence among intimate partners are subject to theoretical elaboration of this paper.

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