NCJ Number
217526
Date Published
September 2003
Length
41 pages
Annotation
This paper examines the principles underlying the battered women's movement, the restorative justice movement, and the criminal justice system; and it proposes an interpretation of what is effective, redemptive, and liberating about the practices of each approach to the plight of battered women.
Abstract
The restorative justice movement has erred in not having a clear understanding of the role of gender in domestic violence and in not addressing the pervasiveness of gender bias. The prevalence of community acceptance of some level of violence in intimate relationships, especially by a man against a female partner, seriously compromises the effectiveness of restorative justice practices that involve the community at large. A biased community is not qualified to decide what remedies would best restore the harm done to the community and the victim while holding the offender accountable. What restorative justice principles do offer for domestic violence cases is a focus on change in offender attitudes and behaviors that can only result from a comprehensive strategy of support and monitoring. The most effective strategy would involve committed, knowledgeable, and sensitive stakeholders working as a team at the direction of the battered woman and her children, in order to help them achieve a safe and fulfilling life free of abuse and oppression. For decades the battered women's movement has encouraged State legislatures and criminal justice agencies to set new norms for addressing violence in intimate relationships, so as to promote battered women's immediate and long-term safety and autonomy. Criminal justice interventions and many of the civil legal remedies the battered women's movement has promoted, however, do not address many of the needs of battered women.