Restorative Justice, Domestic Violence and Family Violence

Source: (2004) Issues Paper 9. Sydney: Australian Domestic & Family Violence Clearinghouse. Downloaded 24 November 2004.

As Julie Stubbs observes at the outset of this paper, restorative justice as social movement has been very influential, and there has been a significant growth in the adoption of restorative justice practices in Australia and other countries. At the same time, there has been considerable debate about the applicability of restorative justice to cases involving domestic and family violence. Hence, Stubbs asserts it is timely to review the debate for several reasons. Some advocates see restorative justice as appropriate for all types of offenses and promote restorative justice as a replacement for conventional criminal justice, including domestic violence offenses and other “gendered” harms. Others, however, urge caution about or resist the extension of restorative justice to cases of violence against women. Furthermore, there are specific proposals under review or about to be adopted in Australia and New Zealand that require a response to this debate. In this context, Stubbs draws from the extensive international literature to describe and evaluate general claims about restorative justice. Then she reviews the more limited literature on restorative justice for domestic violence and other gendered harms. Next Stubbs looks at specific initiatives for Aboriginal justice in relation to family violence, and she concludes with discussion of ongoing concerns about restorative justice.