Sexual offenses: rape, sexual abuse, sexual acts with a child, molestation, exposure offences, and an attempt or threat to do any of the former
- without consent
- intimate, often occurs in relational context
- strengthen socially constructed gender discourses & dynamics
CONDITIONS FOR RJ (EU Forum RJ)
- Assessment of the participants (suitability versus eligibility);
- Risk assessment;
- Thorough preparation;
- Interagency cooperation between experts on sexual offending, victimisation and treatment;
- Flexibility and sufficient allocated time;
- Mediators/ facilitators with knowledge of the power and control dynamics of sexual violence and of the effects of trauma, with a special training in facilitating a restorative justice encounter in these complex cases.
- Questions: mostly asked about RJ process (what it involves, what do you hope to get out of it, what barries for victim/ person that caused harm to take part, etc.)
- 32 take full responsibility, 6 take partial responsibility/ admission, 4 deny/ claim innocence
- Interviews intentionally didn't ask if individuals experienced adversity within childhood
- Short, anonymised interview ==> trauma-informed approach is to allow them to share if they feel safe to do so, not probe
- Aware of risk that aksing set questions relating to possible victimisation of person that caused harm may have led to a form of justification of their offences
- Sexually traumatic/ abusive experiences:
- Intra-familial sexual abuse (including sibling abuse)
- Childhood sexual abuse (cause by adult)
- Peer sexual abuse within adolescence
- Emotional/ physical neglect
- Negative sexual experience
- Erectile dysfunction
- Withdrawal of consent during sexual activity
- Poor hygiene
- Comprehensive assessment of sexual history
- context of early attachment/ family/ extended family relationships
- sibling/ peer influence
- social experiences
- sexual contact with others
- sexual informants (media & social media)
- Motivations for participating in RJ
- Gain understanding of themselves: hear impact, prevent them from future harming, routes to where they harmed
- Explain themselves
- Give victim closure, be accountable for their actions
- Hope for the future
- Not assume an individual is denying due to deviancy, but rather the wider impact on their own & family members' life
- attacked/ exposed in papers
TOPICS TO LEARN
- reintegrative shaming (Braithwaite, 1989)
- restorative integration theory, trauma informed practice, the management of shame and denial
- ecognizing grooming and coercive control
- open secret process
- Assessing elements of coercive control
DEFINITION
United Nations (2002) defines restorative justice in the criminal setting to be ‘any process in which the victim, the offender and/or any other individuals or community members affected by a crime actively participate together in the resolution of matters arising from the crime, often with the help of a fair and impartial third party’. SOURCE- Relies on offender acknowledging responsibility for the crime, so victim offender roles are clearly established, distinguishing it from civil mediation which is about fact-finding & compromise
- Benefits
- Victims:
- empower (greater control)
- validation (from offender admit offense), stop blaming themselves
- RESTORE Arizona: victims decrease in PTSD symptoms, though statistically insignificant
- Offender:
- reduce victim-blaming
- Doubts:
- offenders may experience inappropriate excitement upon hearing victim's distress instead of remorse/empathy
- experts present to challenge attempts to blame/manipulate victim
- Joanne Nodding case: Judge said "You've ruined this woman's life" and she didn't want him to feel that he had power over her. (Williams, 2011)
- secondary victimization: disblieved, treated as though they were lying and were promiscuous
- re-victimize: power imbalance, jeopardize safety of survivors & future potential victims
- only one place (South Australia) uses RJ as diversion, only where young offenders plead guilty
Legal Reform:
- specialist domestic and family violence court ̣(Community Legal Center NSW)
- Guidelines for the delivery of RJ in Scotland in Oct 2017
- Scotland: assessment and case planning instrument called LS/CMI
- Spousal Assault Risk Assessment (SARA) V3 is a set of Structured Professional Judgment guidelines for comprehensive assessment and management of risk for domestic abuse in Scotland
- JSWR: Justice Social Work Report
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