Between vengeance and forgiveness: Feminist responses to violent injustice.

Source: (1998) New England Law Review 32 (Summer).

In the face of violent crime and injustice and hard questions about how to respond to such, Minow asks whether there is or should be a particular feminist perspective on these issues. On the one side are responses based on legal forms, particularly of an adversarial and a punitive character. On the other side are calls for alternative responses, often called restorative justice. Where do feminists stand in these tensions? To explore the issues, Minow discusses the following: punishment versus reconciliation; and the perspectives of feminists on both sides of the controversy. She relates two specific examples that illustrate the tensions, and she concludes her paper with suggestions to guide the choice between prosecutorial and reparative approaches to violent injustice.