Domestic Violence and Women's Safety: Feminist Challenges to Restorative Justice

Abstract:     
This chapter deals with domestic violence rather than other possible forms of family violence. It also proceeds from the position that domestic violence is different in many ways from other forms of crime. It takes as fundamental the need to provide safety to those who experience domestic violence, most commonly women and their children. An appeal to victim safety need not imply a punitive or exclusionary logic (see the debate between Scheingold, Olson and Pershing, Braithwaite and Pettit, and Daly in Law and Society Review, 1994). Restorative justice has made strong claims about providing better outcomes for victims than conventional criminal justice system practices and these claims are analysed with reference to empirical data concerning domestic violence. The chapter also examines the extent to which restorative justice practices mobilise resources for the protection of women and children - this is especially crucial at a time when resources are being withdrawn from the formal legal system and from the community.

Keywords: Restorative justice, domestic violence, theory, victims, race, gender, Indigenous women, community

JEL Classifications: K10, K14, K42

Accepted Paper Series