Restorative Justice Alternatives and the Question of Applicability to Family: Addressing the Issue of Domestic Violence

Source: (1998) M.A. thesis, Department of Sociology and Social Anthropology, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia.

Restorative justice has recently entered yet another phase of popularity as a social movement throughout North America. While the social movement has gained relative success in relation to less serious crimes and young offenders, many questions surrounding the applicability of the philosophy and practices of restorative justice to crimes of a serious nature remain unresolved. This is especially evident in relation to crimes involving violence against women. The applicability of restorative justice alternatives to crimes of violence against women in general has remained unexplored, and is not addressed at depth in the literature. Issues surrounding the applicability of such alternatives to domestic violence is more frequently discussed however. While the attitudes of the general public and professionals towards the use of restorative justice alternatives in domestic violence cases have been examined, the attitudes of victims towards such issues have rarely if ever been examined. The purpose of this project is to examine the attitudes of victims of domestic violence, volunteers and community agency service providers who work with these victims, towards the current criminal justice system, restorative justice alternatives in general, and the use of these alternatives in domestic violence cases. Author’s abstract.