Restorative justice programmes remain controversial

Last edited: December 20, 2011

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Much of the analysis of restorative justice for cases of violence against women has been conducted in relation to Canadian programmes. Canadian restorative justice mechanisms include sentencing circles and victim-offender mediation, for example. But there have been no systematic evaluations of most of the types of restorative mechanisms in use there. Many restorative programmes for violence against women have been difficult to evaluate because of the small number of cases. See also the special box on the dangers of restorative justice in cases of violence against women.

Victim-offender mediation:

Research related to mediation where there has been intimate violence within the relationship is largely negative (Cameron, 2005). There is a significant body of literature that indicates women in these circumstances are likely to be re-victimized, intimidated, and abused by the men they are in mediation with (e.g. Kreiger, 2002; ver Steegh, 2003). See also the section on dangers of mediation in cases of violence against women for more information.