Domestic Violence

Domestic violence presents unique challenges and opportunities to restorative justice practitioners. On one hand, the restorative process of taking responsibility, addressing past harm and planning for a better future can look very much like domestic violence syndrome. On the other, restorative responses can offer alternatives to a victim who has kept silence out of fear that the abuser will be arrested and the family's means of support ended. These articles address this important area.

On the efficacy of victim-offender-mediation in cases of partnership violence in Austria, or: Men don’t get better, but women get stronger: Is it still true? Outcomes of an empirical study: from the study by Christa Pelikan: Put in a nutshell, the core finding of this study reads thus: The efficacy of VOM in cases partnership violence is to a large part due to the empowerment of the women victims, but partly, albeit to a smaller percentage, also due to an inner change, to insight and following from that a change of behaviour on the side of the male perpetrators. These achievements cannot be understood except as part of a comprehensive societal change – a change of collective mentalities, or in other words: change of expectations1 regarding the use of violence in intimate partnerships.
Domestic Violence Surrogate Dialogue: from their website: Our Mission: The Domestic Violence Surrogate Dialogue (DVSD) program is designed to arrange an appropriate setting and environment whereby domestic violence victims and offenders may meet and engage in a conversation intended to lead to a form of restorative justice. A goal of the session is to generate understanding between the victim and offender as to each other's views and attitudes, as well as focus on the many consequences of domestic violence. I deally, the dialogue will be a catalyst for the victim to begin the release of feelings that will allow her to abandon her anger and initiate a healing process. She will also be able to ask probing questions of an offender that she would never have been able to ask her own abuser for fear of retribution. At the same time, the interactive conversation with the survivor may motivate the offender to seek and find redemption. The offender would recognize that the victim is a person who has been harmed, not just physically, but mentally and emotionally. The program also provides the offender an opportunity to help a victim of the same crime he had committed. By revealing his own insight, motivations and manipulations, the offender can enable the victim to discover how to identify and avoid violent behavior in future relationships. For both surrogates, these outcomes would represent a dramatic breakthrough.
Why is it important for people of faith to be involved in domestic violence work?: from the Renewal House blog entry: A reporter from the Boston Herald asked me that question yesterday afternoon. The reporter is working on an article highlighting the Restorer’s Ministry, a new hotline led by three women from the Grace of All Nations Church in Dorchester. We have been supporting the training needs of the three as they seek to live out their call to serving individuals and families struggling with issues of domestic violence in their community.
Intimate partner violence: Towards a sociological understanding: from Richard Record's entry on Sociological Dialogues: Finally the Domestic Violence Act as an intervention by the criminal justice system is based on an adversarial system, where victims often have to defend themselves within the court setting, since perpetrators have the opportunity to make representations and place the victims under cross examination. The credibility of victims can therefore be broken down. Therefore there is the possibility that the woman who might need the protection order the most, will not get one granted due to her credibility being brought into question.
Federal Probation publishes paper on “Pono Kaulike: Restorative Justice and Solution-Focused Approaches to Domestic Violence in Hawaii”: From the Restorative Practices E-Forum for 28 July: The Pono Kaulike program provided facilitated restorative justice processes combined with solution-focused brief therapy with subjects who plead guilty to crimes including assault, harassment, criminal property damage, criminal trespass, terroristic threatening and negligent homicide.
Coleman, Vallerie E.. Dangerous Dances: Treatment of Domestic Violence in Same-Sex Couples: "The existence of same-sex domestic violence challenges the traditional assumption that domestic violence is rooted primarily in men's patriarchal privilege. While the role of patriarchy in perpetuating and maintaing domestic violence cannot be underestimated, battering in lesbian and gay relationships brings to light the need for a multidimensional understanding of domestic violence. In order to address the complex individual, relational, and societal variables that underlie the perpetration of battering, we must creatively broaden both our theoretical understanding of domestic violence and our treatment modalities. Although domestic violence also occurs in bisexual and transgender relationaships, this chapter focuses specifically on how, under certain circumstances, couple therapy can be safe and effective treatment modality for lesbians and gay men." (excerpt)
Krieger, Sarah. The Dangers of Mediation in Domestic Violence Cases.: Sarah Krieger points to the increasing use of alternative methods of dispute resolution in family law cases to promote efficient justice and to serve family relations better. For Krieger, as she argues in this essay, the trend in favor of mediation leads to the re-privatization of family law, thus resulting in a setback to the political and legislative progress of the battered women’s movement. To make her argument, Krieger examines the effects of mandatory mediation in family law cases involving domestic violence. Mandatory mediation, she states, has an overall negative impact on gender relations in general, and in specific on the progress of securing legislative rights and protection for battered women. In her essay she sketches a brief history of domestic violence, and its nature and effects; defines and explains alternative dispute resolution; discusses the inappropriateness of domestic violence victim and batterer participation in mediation; looks at legislative responses in certain states; and questions the training of mediators and their screening processes for domestic violence as inadequate for dealing with cases of domestic violence.
Hayden, Anne. Restorative Justice: Has it Potential for Dealing with Domestic Violence?: While many advocate for the application of restorative justice system-wide in criminal justice, some have questioned its effectiveness or appropriateness for certain types of crimes – for example, domestic violence. In the latter instance, domestic violence is described as having unique characteristics, such that restorative justice is not suitable for cases of this sort. In this paper, Anne Hayden raises the question of restorative justice and domestic violence by pursuing four objectives: (1) a challenge of the misconception that domestic violence is perpetrated only by men; (2) an examination of the dynamics of gender and power in domestic violence; (3) a comparison of possible outcomes of interventions in domestic violence, with an argument for the use of restorative justice in some instances; and (4) a discussion of certain principles for the practice of restorative justice in domestic violence cases.
Stubbs, Julie. Domestic violence and women’s safety: Feminist challenges to restorative justice.: In this essay, Julie Stubbs focuses on domestic violence, as against other forms of family violence). Beginning with the perspective that domestic violence is different from other forms of violence, she maintains that the need to provide safety to the victims is fundamental to any response to the problem. In this context, she pursues the question whether restorative justice can live up to claims that it provides better outcomes for victims than conventional criminal justice system practices. Part 1 of her essay examines three underlying conceptions where key differences emerge among participants in the discussion about restorative justice, victimology, and domestic violence. Part 2 explores the diversity of women’s experiences of domestic violence and the significance of such diversity in considering and evaluating interventions to address their situations. Part 3 deals with empirical findings concerning domestic violence and challenges to restorative justice. In the end, Stubbs expresses skepticism about the alleged benefits of restorative justice for victims of domestic violence.
Busch, Ruth. Domestic violence and restorative justice initiatives: Who pays if we get it wrong?: In this concluding chapter to this collection of essays, Ruth Busch evaluates arguments about the use of a restorative justice model for domestic violence cases. To date, many restorative justice initiatives have addressed juvenile justice and non-violent crimes. Some advocates of restorative justice urge the extension of restorative justice processes to adult criminal offending, including cases of violence within families. In contrast, some other people, especially advocates for battered women, argue that restorative justice is inherently unfair and dangerous in such cases; the conventional criminal justice system offers better protections and outcomes for victims of domestic violence. Beginning from a position against the use of restorative justice in most cases of domestic violence, Busch discusses inadequacies and recent improvements in the court system; the accuracy of claims about victim-offender mediation with respect to domestic violence; limitations of family group conferencing in the juvenile justice sphere, and in relation to domestic violence offenses; community group conferencing and domestic violence; and the Pennell and Burford conferencing model in relation to domestic violence.
Lichti, Chris and Block, Heather. Restorative justice with respect to domestic violence and sexual abuse: In view of the challenge of seeking the best response to domestic violence and sexual abuse, the authors explore how understandings of restorative justice and family violence theory intersect. Integration of restorative justice with domestic violence and sexual abuse theory is difficult, in part because of the complex and unique dynamics of abuse. Yet, using a detailed chart for purposes of comparison and contrast, the authors highlight key ways in which restorative justice better applies to domestic violence and sexual abuse than retributive justice.
Pelikan, Christa. Victim-Offender Mediation in Domestic Violence Cases - A Research Report.: In this paper, Pelikan examines the results of empirical research into the issue of victim-offender mediation in domestic violence cases, with emphasis on the situation in Austria. She begins by summarizing the critique of mediation in such cases. After a careful explanation of the nature and method of her research, she analyzes the results of the research. This includes a typology of various effects of victim-offender mediation in domestic violence cases (e.g., victim-offender mediation as a reinforcement of change; or as the beginning of reformation; or as supporting separation). Based on her research, Pelikan concludes with recommendations on victim-offender mediation in such cases.
Smith, Barbara E.. Impact Evaluation of Victim Services Programs: STOP Grants Funded by the Violence Against Women Act: Summary: An impact evaluation of the STOP (Services, Training, Officers, Prosecutors) Violence Against Women grants program funded with Federal grants under the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) of 1994 used data from two samples of representatives of law enforcement, prosecution, and court programs to provide victim services. Programs provided a wide variety of services to victims of sexual assault and domestic violence at many stages of case processing. Findings indicated that STOP funds substantially improved the lives of victims and the criminal justice system response to victims.
Davis, Robert C and Smith, Barbara E. and Nickles, Laura B. and Davis, Robert C. Impact Evaluation of Victim Services Programs: STOP Grants Funded by the Violence Against Women Act: Summary: An impact evaluation of the STOP (Services, Training, Officers, Prosecutors) Violence Against Women grants program funded with Federal grants under the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) of 1994 used data from two samples of representatives of law enforcement, prosecution, and court programs to provide victim services. Programs provided a wide variety of services to victims of sexual assault and domestic violence at many stages of case processing. Findings indicated that STOP funds substantially improved the lives of victims and the criminal justice system response to victims.
Ptacek, James. Guest Editor's Introduction: Searching for ways to expand options for women who are abused and increase accountability for men who are abusive, a number of feminists have been exploring restorative justice. At their best, the variety of informal conflict-mediation practices now loosely grouped under the rubric of “restorative justice” can be seen as ways of doing community organizing around criminal victimization and other kinds of harm. In theory, these practices seek to decrease the role of the state in responding to crime and increase the involvement of personal, familial, and neighborhood networks in repairing the harm that crime causes. As practiced in New Zealand, Australia, Canada, and the United States, restorative justice is most commonly applied to crimes by young people, largely property crimes. Restorative practices are not recommended and are even disallowed in many jurisdictions for cases of rape and domestic violence. Nonetheless, there is increasing use of these practices to address crimes of violence against women. Feminists have been examining the dangers and potential benefits of applying restorative justice practices to crimes of battering, rape, and child sexual abuse, raising important challenges for feminist community organizing and for restorative justice. (excerpt)
Eddy, Dan. Repairing the Harm: A Response: With benefits nearly doubling in the past six years -- from $250 million to more than $450 million annually -- state compensation programs are providing financial assistance to more victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, child abuse, and other crimes than ever before.
Joanknecht, Lineke. Family Group Conference and domestic violence: In recent years, women's aid agencies in the Netherlands have primarily catered for a woman's safety, her protection from the man, offering her shelter and helping her to organise her life herself, independently, far from the man, far from acquaintances who would be able to tell the man where she was living. She can then build up a new life in a place far away, with or without children. However, what we notice in the Netherlands is that this is only a fraction of the solution: it is very hard to start a new life somewhere a long way away. If there are children, the route to the man is never sealed off, because if the man does not go looking for the children, the children will look for their father some time between now and becoming adult, even if no contact has been agreed. Many women also seek contact with their ex-partner after some time; for them it was not so much the relationship as the violence within it that had to stop. That is why new forms of aid have been developed in which more support can remain (or be sought) for the woman and in which her safety is guaranteed. In Amsterdam, for example, in addition to refuges there are also support offices in each district of the city where women who are abused and still live at home can build up a plan of action (to stay, to mobilise aid or to flee). Women, who after shelter choose to return home, can make use of counselling on their return. That is how contact with Family Group Conferencing (FGC) came into being. Since 2001 Family Group Conferencing (a decision-making model) has been successfully applied to Youth Welfare Work in the Netherlands. In Canada and America there had been earlier successes in stopping violence by projects on domestic violence and Family Group Conferencing. In the Netherlands, a start was made in 2002 in providing Conferences for domestic violence. (excerpt)
Rubin, Pamela. Restorative Justice in Nova Scotia: Women's Experience and Recommendations for Positive Policy Development and Implementation. Report and Recommendations: Restorative justice processes have been contemplated as a potential improvement on the failures of the existing criminal justice system to deal with violence against women, and as a potential source of empowerment for women. These analyses tend to downplay systemic discrimination's role in these failures, to ignore family and community roles in the reinforcement of male control of women, and to take an "it can't get worse" approach to justifying unproven interventions through restorative justice. The complex realities of abuse, sex offences and discrimination against women which may impact restorative justice processes, when they are acknowledged, are often seen as remediable through power-balancing techniques and pre-process preparation. However, equity-oriented analysis of restorative justice (such as Richard Delgado's, from which the articulation of themes in this paragraph is drawn) combines both internal and external critiques of restorative justice. (excerpt)
Natalie Kroovand. In Search of Justice In Domestic and Family Violence: Behind this dissertation lies Heather Nancarrow's long involvement in Queensland and on a national level in Australia in the domestic violence prevention sector. Nancarrow's research project stems from her concern that the gains of the women's movement toward reducing and even eliminating domestic violence seem to benefit some women more than others. In 2000 a review of state-funded domestic services in Queensland indicated that many of the responses to domestic violence were irrelevant or minimally beneficial to indigenous women, especially those in rural and remote communities. In the same year two other reports from the Queensland Government contradicted each other on the question of appropriate justice models to deal with violence against women. One recommended restorative justice as a process that empowers indigenous peoples and maximizes community participation in crime prevention. The other, more narrowly interpreting restorative justice almost entirely in terms of victim-offender mediation, recommended that victim-offender mediation should never replace the criminal justice system; indeed, in this view, domestic violence offenses should as a matter of principle result in criminal prosecution when the evidence warrants it. Given the composition of each task force, Nancarrow believes that these opposite positions represent a "racialized" divergence on the application of restorative justice practices in cases of domestic and family violence. This observation and her concern about equitable responses to domestic and family violence gave rise to this study.
Jolly, Margaret. Some thoughts on restorative justice and gender in the Pacific: Margaret Jolly begins this article with summaries of perspectives on restorative justice from Sinclair Dinnen and John Braithwaite. Among their common ideas and distinctive emphases, Dinnen and Braithwaite each caution that restoration and retribution are both ideal types: most legal systems include both restorative and retributive elements. Jolly points to restorative and retributive elements in both European traditions and Pacific societies. It would seem then that "best practice" would involve a creative connection of introduced and indigenous forms. Jolly, however, questions this by considering the challenge of gender differences within both introduced and indigenous traditions. She highlights this in particular with reference to gender and justice in relation to domestic violence and rape.

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On the efficacy of victim-offender-mediation in cases of partnership violence in Austria, or: Men don’t get better, but women get stronger: Is it still true? Outcomes of an empirical study from the study by Christa Pelikan: Put in a nutshell, the core finding of this study reads thus: The efficacy of VOM in cases partnership violence is to a large part due to the empowerment of the women victims, but partly, albeit to a smaller percentage, also due to an inner change, to insight and following from that a change of behaviour on the side of the male perpetrators. These achievements cannot be understood except as part of a comprehensive societal change – a change of collective mentalities, or in other words: change of expectations1 regarding the use of violence in intimate partnerships. Domestic Violence Surrogate Dialogue from their website: Our Mission: The Domestic Violence Surrogate Dialogue (DVSD) program is designed to arrange an appropriate setting and environment whereby domestic violence victims and offenders may meet and engage in a conversation intended to lead to a form of restorative justice. A goal of the session is to generate understanding between the victim and offender as to each other's views and attitudes, as well as focus on the many consequences of domestic violence. I deally, the dialogue will be a catalyst for the victim to begin the release of feelings that will allow her to abandon her anger and initiate a healing process. She will also be able to ask probing questions of an offender that she would never have been able to ask her own abuser for fear of retribution. At the same time, the interactive conversation with the survivor may motivate the offender to seek and find redemption. The offender would recognize that the victim is a person who has been harmed, not just physically, but mentally and emotionally. The program also provides the offender an opportunity to help a victim of the same crime he had committed. By revealing his own insight, motivations and manipulations, the offender can enable the victim to discover how to identify and avoid violent behavior in future relationships. For both surrogates, these outcomes would represent a dramatic breakthrough. Why is it important for people of faith to be involved in domestic violence work? from the Renewal House blog entry: A reporter from the Boston Herald asked me that question yesterday afternoon. The reporter is working on an article highlighting the Restorer’s Ministry, a new hotline led by three women from the Grace of All Nations Church in Dorchester. We have been supporting the training needs of the three as they seek to live out their call to serving individuals and families struggling with issues of domestic violence in their community. Intimate partner violence: Towards a sociological understanding from Richard Record's entry on Sociological Dialogues: Finally the Domestic Violence Act as an intervention by the criminal justice system is based on an adversarial system, where victims often have to defend themselves within the court setting, since perpetrators have the opportunity to make representations and place the victims under cross examination. The credibility of victims can therefore be broken down. Therefore there is the possibility that the woman who might need the protection order the most, will not get one granted due to her credibility being brought into question. Federal Probation publishes paper on “Pono Kaulike: Restorative Justice and Solution-Focused Approaches to Domestic Violence in Hawaii” From the Restorative Practices E-Forum for 28 July: The Pono Kaulike program provided facilitated restorative justice processes combined with solution-focused brief therapy with subjects who plead guilty to crimes including assault, harassment, criminal property damage, criminal trespass, terroristic threatening and negligent homicide. Coleman, Vallerie E.. Dangerous Dances: Treatment of Domestic Violence in Same-Sex Couples "The existence of same-sex domestic violence challenges the traditional assumption that domestic violence is rooted primarily in men's patriarchal privilege. While the role of patriarchy in perpetuating and maintaing domestic violence cannot be underestimated, battering in lesbian and gay relationships brings to light the need for a multidimensional understanding of domestic violence. In order to address the complex individual, relational, and societal variables that underlie the perpetration of battering, we must creatively broaden both our theoretical understanding of domestic violence and our treatment modalities. Although domestic violence also occurs in bisexual and transgender relationaships, this chapter focuses specifically on how, under certain circumstances, couple therapy can be safe and effective treatment modality for lesbians and gay men." (excerpt) Krieger, Sarah. The Dangers of Mediation in Domestic Violence Cases. Sarah Krieger points to the increasing use of alternative methods of dispute resolution in family law cases to promote efficient justice and to serve family relations better. For Krieger, as she argues in this essay, the trend in favor of mediation leads to the re-privatization of family law, thus resulting in a setback to the political and legislative progress of the battered women’s movement. To make her argument, Krieger examines the effects of mandatory mediation in family law cases involving domestic violence. Mandatory mediation, she states, has an overall negative impact on gender relations in general, and in specific on the progress of securing legislative rights and protection for battered women. In her essay she sketches a brief history of domestic violence, and its nature and effects; defines and explains alternative dispute resolution; discusses the inappropriateness of domestic violence victim and batterer participation in mediation; looks at legislative responses in certain states; and questions the training of mediators and their screening processes for domestic violence as inadequate for dealing with cases of domestic violence. Hayden, Anne. Restorative Justice: Has it Potential for Dealing with Domestic Violence? While many advocate for the application of restorative justice system-wide in criminal justice, some have questioned its effectiveness or appropriateness for certain types of crimes – for example, domestic violence. In the latter instance, domestic violence is described as having unique characteristics, such that restorative justice is not suitable for cases of this sort. In this paper, Anne Hayden raises the question of restorative justice and domestic violence by pursuing four objectives: (1) a challenge of the misconception that domestic violence is perpetrated only by men; (2) an examination of the dynamics of gender and power in domestic violence; (3) a comparison of possible outcomes of interventions in domestic violence, with an argument for the use of restorative justice in some instances; and (4) a discussion of certain principles for the practice of restorative justice in domestic violence cases. Stubbs, Julie. Domestic violence and women’s safety: Feminist challenges to restorative justice. In this essay, Julie Stubbs focuses on domestic violence, as against other forms of family violence). Beginning with the perspective that domestic violence is different from other forms of violence, she maintains that the need to provide safety to the victims is fundamental to any response to the problem. In this context, she pursues the question whether restorative justice can live up to claims that it provides better outcomes for victims than conventional criminal justice system practices. Part 1 of her essay examines three underlying conceptions where key differences emerge among participants in the discussion about restorative justice, victimology, and domestic violence. Part 2 explores the diversity of women’s experiences of domestic violence and the significance of such diversity in considering and evaluating interventions to address their situations. Part 3 deals with empirical findings concerning domestic violence and challenges to restorative justice. In the end, Stubbs expresses skepticism about the alleged benefits of restorative justice for victims of domestic violence. Busch, Ruth. Domestic violence and restorative justice initiatives: Who pays if we get it wrong? In this concluding chapter to this collection of essays, Ruth Busch evaluates arguments about the use of a restorative justice model for domestic violence cases. To date, many restorative justice initiatives have addressed juvenile justice and non-violent crimes. Some advocates of restorative justice urge the extension of restorative justice processes to adult criminal offending, including cases of violence within families. In contrast, some other people, especially advocates for battered women, argue that restorative justice is inherently unfair and dangerous in such cases; the conventional criminal justice system offers better protections and outcomes for victims of domestic violence. Beginning from a position against the use of restorative justice in most cases of domestic violence, Busch discusses inadequacies and recent improvements in the court system; the accuracy of claims about victim-offender mediation with respect to domestic violence; limitations of family group conferencing in the juvenile justice sphere, and in relation to domestic violence offenses; community group conferencing and domestic violence; and the Pennell and Burford conferencing model in relation to domestic violence. Lichti, Chris and Block, Heather. Restorative justice with respect to domestic violence and sexual abuse In view of the challenge of seeking the best response to domestic violence and sexual abuse, the authors explore how understandings of restorative justice and family violence theory intersect. Integration of restorative justice with domestic violence and sexual abuse theory is difficult, in part because of the complex and unique dynamics of abuse. Yet, using a detailed chart for purposes of comparison and contrast, the authors highlight key ways in which restorative justice better applies to domestic violence and sexual abuse than retributive justice. Pelikan, Christa. Victim-Offender Mediation in Domestic Violence Cases - A Research Report. In this paper, Pelikan examines the results of empirical research into the issue of victim-offender mediation in domestic violence cases, with emphasis on the situation in Austria. She begins by summarizing the critique of mediation in such cases. After a careful explanation of the nature and method of her research, she analyzes the results of the research. This includes a typology of various effects of victim-offender mediation in domestic violence cases (e.g., victim-offender mediation as a reinforcement of change; or as the beginning of reformation; or as supporting separation). Based on her research, Pelikan concludes with recommendations on victim-offender mediation in such cases. Smith, Barbara E.. Impact Evaluation of Victim Services Programs: STOP Grants Funded by the Violence Against Women Act: Summary An impact evaluation of the STOP (Services, Training, Officers, Prosecutors) Violence Against Women grants program funded with Federal grants under the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) of 1994 used data from two samples of representatives of law enforcement, prosecution, and court programs to provide victim services. Programs provided a wide variety of services to victims of sexual assault and domestic violence at many stages of case processing. Findings indicated that STOP funds substantially improved the lives of victims and the criminal justice system response to victims. Davis, Robert C and Smith, Barbara E. and Nickles, Laura B. and Davis, Robert C. Impact Evaluation of Victim Services Programs: STOP Grants Funded by the Violence Against Women Act: Summary An impact evaluation of the STOP (Services, Training, Officers, Prosecutors) Violence Against Women grants program funded with Federal grants under the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) of 1994 used data from two samples of representatives of law enforcement, prosecution, and court programs to provide victim services. Programs provided a wide variety of services to victims of sexual assault and domestic violence at many stages of case processing. Findings indicated that STOP funds substantially improved the lives of victims and the criminal justice system response to victims. Ptacek, James. Guest Editor's Introduction Searching for ways to expand options for women who are abused and increase accountability for men who are abusive, a number of feminists have been exploring restorative justice. At their best, the variety of informal conflict-mediation practices now loosely grouped under the rubric of “restorative justice” can be seen as ways of doing community organizing around criminal victimization and other kinds of harm. In theory, these practices seek to decrease the role of the state in responding to crime and increase the involvement of personal, familial, and neighborhood networks in repairing the harm that crime causes. As practiced in New Zealand, Australia, Canada, and the United States, restorative justice is most commonly applied to crimes by young people, largely property crimes. Restorative practices are not recommended and are even disallowed in many jurisdictions for cases of rape and domestic violence. Nonetheless, there is increasing use of these practices to address crimes of violence against women. Feminists have been examining the dangers and potential benefits of applying restorative justice practices to crimes of battering, rape, and child sexual abuse, raising important challenges for feminist community organizing and for restorative justice. (excerpt) Eddy, Dan. Repairing the Harm: A Response With benefits nearly doubling in the past six years -- from $250 million to more than $450 million annually -- state compensation programs are providing financial assistance to more victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, child abuse, and other crimes than ever before. Joanknecht, Lineke. Family Group Conference and domestic violence In recent years, women's aid agencies in the Netherlands have primarily catered for a woman's safety, her protection from the man, offering her shelter and helping her to organise her life herself, independently, far from the man, far from acquaintances who would be able to tell the man where she was living. She can then build up a new life in a place far away, with or without children. However, what we notice in the Netherlands is that this is only a fraction of the solution: it is very hard to start a new life somewhere a long way away. If there are children, the route to the man is never sealed off, because if the man does not go looking for the children, the children will look for their father some time between now and becoming adult, even if no contact has been agreed. Many women also seek contact with their ex-partner after some time; for them it was not so much the relationship as the violence within it that had to stop. That is why new forms of aid have been developed in which more support can remain (or be sought) for the woman and in which her safety is guaranteed. In Amsterdam, for example, in addition to refuges there are also support offices in each district of the city where women who are abused and still live at home can build up a plan of action (to stay, to mobilise aid or to flee). Women, who after shelter choose to return home, can make use of counselling on their return. That is how contact with Family Group Conferencing (FGC) came into being. Since 2001 Family Group Conferencing (a decision-making model) has been successfully applied to Youth Welfare Work in the Netherlands. In Canada and America there had been earlier successes in stopping violence by projects on domestic violence and Family Group Conferencing. In the Netherlands, a start was made in 2002 in providing Conferences for domestic violence. (excerpt) Rubin, Pamela. Restorative Justice in Nova Scotia: Women's Experience and Recommendations for Positive Policy Development and Implementation. Report and Recommendations Restorative justice processes have been contemplated as a potential improvement on the failures of the existing criminal justice system to deal with violence against women, and as a potential source of empowerment for women. These analyses tend to downplay systemic discrimination's role in these failures, to ignore family and community roles in the reinforcement of male control of women, and to take an "it can't get worse" approach to justifying unproven interventions through restorative justice. The complex realities of abuse, sex offences and discrimination against women which may impact restorative justice processes, when they are acknowledged, are often seen as remediable through power-balancing techniques and pre-process preparation. However, equity-oriented analysis of restorative justice (such as Richard Delgado's, from which the articulation of themes in this paragraph is drawn) combines both internal and external critiques of restorative justice. (excerpt) Natalie Kroovand. In Search of Justice In Domestic and Family Violence Behind this dissertation lies Heather Nancarrow's long involvement in Queensland and on a national level in Australia in the domestic violence prevention sector. Nancarrow's research project stems from her concern that the gains of the women's movement toward reducing and even eliminating domestic violence seem to benefit some women more than others. In 2000 a review of state-funded domestic services in Queensland indicated that many of the responses to domestic violence were irrelevant or minimally beneficial to indigenous women, especially those in rural and remote communities. In the same year two other reports from the Queensland Government contradicted each other on the question of appropriate justice models to deal with violence against women. One recommended restorative justice as a process that empowers indigenous peoples and maximizes community participation in crime prevention. The other, more narrowly interpreting restorative justice almost entirely in terms of victim-offender mediation, recommended that victim-offender mediation should never replace the criminal justice system; indeed, in this view, domestic violence offenses should as a matter of principle result in criminal prosecution when the evidence warrants it. Given the composition of each task force, Nancarrow believes that these opposite positions represent a "racialized" divergence on the application of restorative justice practices in cases of domestic and family violence. This observation and her concern about equitable responses to domestic and family violence gave rise to this study. Jolly, Margaret. Some thoughts on restorative justice and gender in the Pacific Margaret Jolly begins this article with summaries of perspectives on restorative justice from Sinclair Dinnen and John Braithwaite. Among their common ideas and distinctive emphases, Dinnen and Braithwaite each caution that restoration and retribution are both ideal types: most legal systems include both restorative and retributive elements. Jolly points to restorative and retributive elements in both European traditions and Pacific societies. It would seem then that "best practice" would involve a creative connection of introduced and indigenous forms. Jolly, however, questions this by considering the challenge of gender differences within both introduced and indigenous traditions. She highlights this in particular with reference to gender and justice in relation to domestic violence and rape. Next 4 items » [1] 2 Document Actions RSS feed Send this Print this	A long-time repeat offender describes the impact of meeting with his victims.