Domestic Violence and Restorative Justice Initiatives: Who Pays if We Get it Wrong?

Source: (2002) In Restorative justice and family violence, ed. Heather Strang and John Braithwaite, 223-248. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

In this concluding chapter to this collection of essays, Ruth Busch evaluates arguments about the use of a restorative justice model for domestic violence cases. To date, many restorative justice initiatives have addressed juvenile justice and non-violent crimes. Some advocates of restorative justice urge the extension of restorative justice processes to adult criminal offending, including cases of violence within families. In contrast, some other people, especially advocates for battered women, argue that restorative justice is inherently unfair and dangerous in such cases; the conventional criminal justice system offers better protections and outcomes for victims of domestic violence. Beginning from a position against the use of restorative justice in most cases of domestic violence, Busch discusses inadequacies and recent improvements in the court system; the accuracy of claims about victim-offender mediation with respect to domestic violence; limitations of family group conferencing in the juvenile justice sphere, and in relation to domestic violence offenses; community group conferencing and domestic violence; and the Pennell and Burford conferencing model in relation to domestic violence.