Children and family violence-Restorative messages from New Zealand

Source: (2002) In Restorative justice and family violence, ed. Heather Strang and John Braithwaite, 89-107. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

While restorative justice has broad informal and formal support in New Zealand, support for its application to family violence has been more in question. Arguments against restorative justice in cases of family violence include the following: power imbalances in the family; trivialization of crimes against women; and reinforcement of misogynist attitudes. Morris argues that restorative justice practices – especially compared to conventional criminal justice responses – do not necessarily contribute to power imbalances, trivialization of such crimes, and reinforcement of such attitudes. Specifically, she claims that a restorative framework, in the form of family group conferencing, has worked well for youth justice and youth care and protection in New Zealand. On this basis, argues Morris, restorative processes and practices can work well for women, too.