Sexual violence, in all its forms, is a crime for which anecdotal accounts and scholarly reports suggest victims in their great majority do not receive adequate 'justice' or redress. The theory and practice of restorative justice is rapidly developing and offers some well-argued new avenues for dealings with crime in general. It has the potential to be extended to cases of sexual violence and a number of small scale programmes are already underway across the world. Restorative Responses to Sexual Violence examines this innovative justice paradigm in more depth in the particular context of sexual trauma and violence in order to establish the empirical realities of restorative justice approaches in cases of sexual violence, and considers how such approaches could be developed adequately in the future. This book is divided into two parts, each representing a key area of research and practice: theoretical and conceptual frameworks, and justice and therapeutic perspectives. This international collection brings together leading expert scholars and practitioners to offer both theoretical and practical perspectives on restorative justice and sexual violence. This book will be of interest to researchers in the field of law, criminology, psychology, social science, social work and psychotherapy, as well as practitioners in the fields of criminal justice, restorative justice and sex offender and victim trauma therapies.

Sexual violence, in all its forms, is a crime for which anecdotal accounts and scholarly reports suggest victims in their great majority do not receive adequate 'justice' or redress. The theory and practice of restorative justice is rapidly developing and offers some well-argued new avenues for dealings with crime in general. It has the potential to be extended to cases of sexual violence and a number of small scale programmes are already underway across the world. Restorative Responses to Sexual Violence examines this innovative justice paradigm in more depth in the particular context of sexual trauma and violence in order to establish the empirical realities of restorative justice approaches in cases of sexual violence, and considers how such approaches could be developed adequately in the future. This book is divided into two parts, each representing a key area of research and practice: theoretical and conceptual frameworks, and justice and therapeutic perspectives. This international collection brings together leading expert scholars and practitioners to offer both theoretical and practical perspectives on restorative justice and sexual violence. This book will be of interest to researchers in the field of law, criminology, psychology, social science, social work and psychotherapy, as well as practitioners in the fields of criminal justice, restorative justice and sex offender and victim trauma therapies.

Concerned by the high attrition rates for sexual crime and the secondary victimization experienced by victims during their participation in the criminal justice system, this book analyses the extent to which restorative justice can address the justice gap that exists in current justice provision. Building on clinical experience and earlier research on sexual crime the authors engage with the complex dynamics and traumatic impact of sexual crime as a critical starting point for their research and examine whether restorative justice can contribute to a more enhanced justice response. The book presents extensive new data on restorative justice as applied in sexual violence cases across the globe. It engages with feminist concerns regarding the traumatic impact of sexual violence and the power imbalances that characterise these offences, as well as the potential for re-traumatisation and re-victimisation during the judicial process. While there is a risk of coercion of the victim to participate in the process, and manipulation of restorative justice by the offender, restorative justice has the potential to lead to the reprivatisation of sexual crime and ultimately to its decriminalisation. Having examined these topics in detail, the book concludes there is an important role for restorative justice in addressing the justice gap that exists after sexual crime and offers guidance on how this can be achieved.

Conferencing and Restorative Justice: International Practices and Perspectives offers an analysis of conferencing practices around the world, examining the range of approaches to different types of crimes and offender age groups, and assessing their outcomes. First developed in New Zealand and Australia in the 1990s, conferencing is a restorative justice practice which has since spread to a number of other countries as an effective tool in crime reduction. By encouraging the offender, the victim(s) and family members, and a facilitator to meet and discuss the crime and its consequences, and then to find a just and acceptable outcome for all, those involved hope to repair the harm inflicted upon the victim, the community and society in general. In this book, the editors have drawn together some of the leading figures in the restorative justice community to look at the current condition of such practices, particularly internationally, and to analyse the processes and outcomes of conferencing, compared with the European-favoured, victim-offender mediation. With fourteen chapters featuring a mix of contributors, including both practitioners and academics, the book begins with a general and thematic overview of what conferencing is and how it is developing theoretically and in practice. This discussion then moves on to some of the original models of conferencing, such as in New Zealand and Australia, and examines some of the challenges (sexual assault cases) and the newer developments found in conferencing in Latin-America. The final section of the book consists of European perspectives on conferencing, exploring how some countries have developed conferencing more extensively (such as into the juvenile justice system), others are still in a starting-phase, whilst some have move conferencing outside of the justice system entirely. Impeccably researched and thoughtfully presented, Conferencing and Restorative Justice will be of interest to anyone involved in restorative justice practices, criminal justice and public policy.