Restorative justice responses to sexual assault.

Source: (2008) Applied Research Forum. Harrisburg,PA: National Online Resource Center on Violence Against Women.

A large international literature promotes restorative
justice options as satisfying and empowering to
crime victims. This paper examines restorative
justice for sexual assault from the perspective of
three groups of survivors: (a) adults victimized by
adult perpetrators; (b) adults or juveniles victimized
by juveniles; and (c) adults sexually molested as
children by adults. Sexual violence within a violent
intimate relationship such as domestic violence is
excluded from consideration. The use of restorative
justice in cases of domestic violence is the subject of
another VAWnet document by Ptacek and
Fredericks (2008). Although it may involve forced
sexual relations, domestic violence, compared to
adult sexual violence, is more likely to involve longer
standing and more committed relationships, multiple
co-occurring forms of psychological and physical
violence, repetitiveness and often escalation of the
abuse over time, and the involvement of children
directly or as witnesses. (excerpt)