Transformative Justice: Anti-Subordination Processes in Cases of Domestic Violence.

Source: (2002) In Restorative justice and family violence, ed. Heather Strang and John Braithwaite, 128-152. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Drawing upon the theory and practice of the feminist movement and the restorative justice movement, Donna Coker focuses on the struggle against domestic violence in subordinated communities. She pursues the need for justice strategies that deal with the intersecting oppressive systems that bear upon battering men and battered women in those communities. Her argument begins with critical analyses of feminism’s construction of domestic violence as a public issue and restorative justice’s tendency to “privatize” such violence. This leads to further identification of weaknesses of restorative justice theory in responding to domestic violence, weaknesses that can be met by current feminist theory and other theoretical and empirical resources to augment certain strengths of restorative justice theory. Then Coker argues for anti-subordination processes to transform interpersonal relationships and communities. For these processes, Coker builds upon insights from transformative justice, feminist theory, and restorative justice theory.