Restorative Justice: Women, Crime, Violence, and Healing January 27/30, 2015 Treisha Hylton UOIT 1 Agenda Announcements (case review ) Lecture Class Discussion Break Lecture Student Support 2 Feminism: An Overview And the Colonization of Diversity Feminism is a collection of movements and ideologies that share a common stated aim: to define, establish, and defend equal political, economic, cultural, and social rights of women rights. This includes seeking to establish equal opportunities for women in education and employment. A feminist generally self-defines as advocating for or supporting the rights and equality of women. Feminist theory which emerged from feminist movements aims to understand the nature of gender inequality by examining women's social roles and lived experience; it has developed theories in a variety of disciplines in order to respond to issues such as the social construction of sex and gender. Some forms of feminism have been criticized for taking into account only white, middle-class, educated perspectives. This led to the creation of ethnically specific or multiculturalist forms of feminism. 3 Feminism and the Law Feminism is a collection of movements and ideologies that share a common stated aim: to define, establish, and defend equal political, economic, cultural, and social rights of women This includes seeking to establish equal opportunities for women in education and employment. A feminist generally self-defines as advocating for or supporting the rights and equality of women. Feminist which emerged from feminist movement, aims to understand the nature of gender inequality by examining women's social roles and lived experience; it has developed theories in a variety of disciplines in order to respond to issues such as the social construction of sex and gender. Some forms of feminism have been criticized for taking into account only white, middle-class, educated perspectives. This led to the creation of ethnically specific or multiculturalist forms of feminism. 4 Overview of Women’s Movement in Restorative Justice Addresses Multiple marginality” is manifested by women of colour, poor women, First Nations women and women that identify as Queer (LGBT) Framework rooted in violence against women Recently First Nations women offenders Corrective rape Victim blaming and re-victimization (within the criminal justice system) Emergence of victim’s movement Health Care Needs of incarcerated women (HIV, Aids, and Trans-women) Linkages between crimes committed by women and crimes against women Addresses the different pathways to incarceration (women crimes of necessity) Exploring the Intersectionality of Victimization and Criminalization of First Nation’s Women 5 Restorative Justice: Women as Victims Restorative justice may by an additional layer to a more complex issue of domestic violence, violence against women Women's groups in Canada and the U.S. have raised concerns about the race and gender polit ...

1. Restorative Justice: Women, Crime, Violence, and Healing
January 27/30, 2015
Treisha Hylton UOIT
1
Agenda
Announcements (case review )
Lecture
Class Discussion
Break
Lecture
Student Support
2
Feminism: An Overview And the Colonization of Diversity
Feminism is a collection of movements and ideologies that
share a common stated aim: to define, establish, and defend
equal political, economic, cultural, and social rights of women
rights. This includes seeking to establish equal opportunities for
women in education and employment. A feminist generally self-
defines as advocating for or supporting the rights and equality
of women. Feminist theory which emerged from feminist
movements aims to understand the nature of gender inequality
by examining women's social roles and lived experience; it has
developed theories in a variety of disciplines in order to
respond to issues such as the social construction of sex and
gender. Some forms of feminism have been criticized for taking
into account only white, middle-class, educated perspectives.
This led to the creation of ethnically specific or multiculturalist

2. forms of feminism.
3
Feminism and the Law
Feminism is a collection of movements and ideologies that
share a common stated aim: to define, establish, and defend
equal political, economic, cultural, and social rights of women
This includes seeking to establish equal opportunities for
women in education and employment. A feminist generally self-
defines as advocating for or supporting the rights and equality
of women. Feminist which emerged from feminist movement,
aims to understand the nature of gender inequality by examining
women's social roles and lived experience; it has developed
theories in a variety of disciplines in order to respond to issues
such as the social construction of sex and gender. Some forms
of feminism have been criticized for taking into account only
white, middle-class, educated perspectives. This led to the
creation of ethnically specific or multiculturalist forms of
feminism.
4
Overview of Women’s Movement in Restorative Justice
Addresses Multiple marginality” is manifested by women of
colour, poor women, First Nations women and women that
identify as Queer (LGBT)
Framework rooted in violence against women
Recently First Nations women offenders
Corrective rape
Victim blaming and re-victimization (within the criminal justice
system)

3. Emergence of victim’s movement
Health Care Needs of incarcerated women (HIV, Aids, and
Trans-women)
Linkages between crimes committed by women and crimes
against women
Addresses the different pathways to incarceration (women
crimes of necessity)
Exploring the Intersectionality of Victimization and
Criminalization of First Nation’s Women
5
Restorative Justice: Women as Victims
Restorative justice may by an additional layer to a more
complex issue of domestic violence, violence against women
Women's groups in Canada and the U.S. have raised concerns
about the race and gender politics of state-sponsored restorative
justice.
The President of the United Native Nations in Canada reported
that the government asked for input and then ignored the
concerns of indigenous women about using circles in cases of
violence against women (Coward, 2000).
Increasingly, there is recognition that the violence cannot be
stopped without a concerted and cooperative effort of families,
communities, and state institutions"" (Pennell & Burford, 1994,
p. 2). In their view, restorative justice practices can 'widen the
circle' and re-establish support for victims and control for
offenders who have been isolated by violence, secrecy, and
economic hardship.
6
Women’s Diverse Experiences
Victims of domestic violence come to be enmeshed in the

4. criminal justice system in different ways, willingly or
otherwise.
For many women involvement with the criminal justice system
commences at a time of crisis.
They may seek immediate police protection from injury but
have little or no conception about any consequent legal
proceedings. Others may make strategic choices about seeking
longer-term protection through intervention orders or other
legal interventions. Women also may need or want different
forms of intervention at different points in time as their
circumstances change.
Minorities: Racist criminal justice practices have been
expressed in various forms including the over-policing of
minority men but also through the failure to protect minority
women and children (Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander
Women’s Task Force on Violence, 2000; McGillivray &
Comaskey, 1999).
7
Women’s Safety in Restorative Justice
Physical safety and restorative justice:
Women described grave safety concerns involved with any
meeting with their abuser. Safety concerns extended to children,
and supportive family or community members. Women
expressed fears about the time period between conviction or a
guilty plea, and sentencing, whether conventionally or through
restorative justice.
Psychological safety
Women expressed very explicitly how community forum
participation with an abuser would be psychologically negative
for them, endangering hard-won recovery from abuse.
Safety, security and sentencing involvement for survivors of
male violence
Many women stated that fears for their and others’ physical
safety, and the triggering of patterns of fear and intimidation

5. that had been programmed into them by the abuser would
prevent them from participating at all or participating
genuinely in anything like a community justice forum for
sentencing purposes.
Child Safety: Women were concerned that restorative justice
process may not consider their children official victims of
violence
8
The Debate “for” and “Against” Restorative justice
Potential for women’s safety to be compromised.
Potential for power imbalances to go unchecked, which can
reinforce violent behavior.
Potential for offenders and bystanders to manipulate the
process.
Relevance or meaning of ‘genuine apologies’ in relationships
characterized by violence.
Limited impact of one meeting to change entrenched patterns of
abuse and violence.
A need for effective programs and further use of legal
interventions, if an offender does not change.
Potential for victims to be pressured into participating or
coerced into agreements and not be able to advocate effectively
on their own behalf.
Uncertain role and function of ‘the community,’ when
communities are under- resourced or may reinforce, rather than
challenge, violent behavior.
Mixed loyalties of friends and family, who may partly support
victims, but also support offenders, and collude with the
violence.
Symbolic implications: informal processes reflect a re-
privatization of violence, and outcomes may appear too lenient
and send the wrong message to offenders and potential
offenders.

6. 9
Continued (Against)
Potential for greater victim participation and ‘voice’ in the
process and outcome. Potential for victim validation and
empowerment.
A greater degree of offender accountability and explicit
censuring of violent behavior.
A more flexible and less formal environment, which is less
intimidating and more responsive to victims.
Greater potential for dialog and interaction, telling one’s story,
and checking and challenging an offender’s denials or
minimizations of harm.
Potential to address violence for those who wish to continue or
repair a relation- ship.
10
First Nation’s Women and Restorative Justice
When faced with the inherent inadequacies of the criminal
justice system to bring about fundamental social change, one is
often tempted to turn away completely from the law in search of
other solutions. One of the many ways forward that I tentatively
offer has application in both the legal and non-legal spheres. It
may comprise one small step in the much larger, complex
project of solving Daly’s ‘‘unsolvable justice problem.’’
Many Aboriginal women have expressed the need for culturally
appropriate services for themselves, their families, and their
communities and for Aboriginal women to hold the leadership
positions that they once occupied in their pre-colonial
communities.
If sentencing circles as they are currently practiced are not

7. adequate responses to intimate violence, what then are the
components of a more rich and complex theory and practice of
restorative justice?
11
Gendered violence
How do we treat [gendered] harms as serious without engaging
in harsh forms of punishment or hyper-criminalization’’?
Feminist scholarship contributes to solving this problem by
fostering a more complete theory of oppression—one that
includes an analysis of how gender, culture, race, and violence
interact in the lives of women. This is accomplished in part by
focusing on the needs, interests, and specific experiences of the
survivors of intimate violence as much as those of the
offenders.
12
The Community:
Solution
and Problem
Linkage for restorative justice-related community involvement
in support for woman survivors of abuse and/or criminalization

8. are women’s equality-seeking organizations.
Most women participating in the research responded that their
community were those to whom they could turn for support.
Many reported feelings of isolation from community when this
was defined as all people in a certain geographic area.
Black women identified pressures from their community
leaders and other community members to use non-justice-system
approaches to deal with abuse.
Native women who had experienced abuse identified pressures
to “drop charges” and felt analogous pressures would be placed
on them to participate in restorative justice regarding crimes by
abusers.
Different communities respond to mental health, drug addiction,
sex trade work, through victim blaming
Women’s issues identified potentially coercive pressures related
to restorative justice, such as a woman’s responsibility to her
children to get out of the system as quickly as possible (and
avoid any risk of incarceration through pleading not guilty),
even if it means being unjustly “accountable” for crimes against
her abuser, and facing him in a forum.
13

9. Possible benefits of Restorative Justice
Victims voice and participation: Victims have the opportunity
to voice their story and to be heard. They can be empowered by
confronting the offender and by participating in the decision
making on the appropriate penalty
Victim Validation and offender responsibility: A victim’s
account of what happened can be validated, acknowledged that
he/she is not to blamed. Offenders are required to take
responsibility for their behavior and their offending is censured.
In the process the victim is vindicated
Communicate and Flexible environment. The process can be
tailored to child and adolescent victims’ need and capabilities.
Because it is less threatening and more responsive to the
individual and needs of victims
Relationship repair (if that is the goal) the process can address
the violence between those who want to continue the
relationship. It can create opportunities for relationships to be
repaired if that is desired
14
Continued
Restorative Justice programs have been used as a response for
first nations people, however, have demonstrated the problems

10. of approaches that have used singular notions of indigeneity,
and have failed to genuinely consult Indigenous peoples.
15
Research findings on Restorative Justice in Intimate Partner
Abuse
Only a very small body of qualitative and exploratory research
exists on the use of restorative justice with domestic violence
cases
This research has focused on participants' (e.g., community
members, families, and professionals) experiences and their
recommendations, rather than measuring intervention
effectiveness
Results are contradictory, some reporting victim satisfaction
and some reporting considerable dissatisfaction
16
Possible concerns

11. That victims could be disserved by pressuring them to forgive
offenders before they are psychologically ready to do so
That [facilitators] may intimate that victims are being
obstructionist or emotionally immature if they refuse to put
aside anger or distrust;
That a victim who already blames herself may magnify that self-
blame, particularly if the offender is an acquaintance or
intimate partner;
That not every victim will welcome the power of judgement
over the offender
17
Recommendations: Women’s Voices
The lack of consultation with victim service providers and
women’s equality-seeking groups at the initial stages of policy
development the lack of available information in the early
stages
The absence of victim service providers and women’s equality-
seeking groups at key decision-making tables
The lack of critical research, analysis and evaluation on
restorative justice and attendant failure to include
gender/diversity/equality analyses in policy formulation
The potential for the policy phrase “exceptional circumstances”
to be abused by expanded diversion policies and budgetary

12. considerations to allow otherwise screened-out cases of
violence against women and children to proceed through
restorative justice processes
The failure to acknowledge the need for provincial standards,
appropriate training and a central monitoring system to track
restorative/diversion agreements
18
Women as offenders
Women raised concerns about being forced to “take
responsibility” for crimes in order to participate in restorative
justice, where the criminalized acts such as drug use and
prostitution and shoplifting were part of survival strategies or
compelled by an abuser. (crimes of necessity)
Women reported their feelings that female prostitutes and drug
addicts, as well as women in conflict with the law due to violent
events, were treated more judgementally than men in
comparable situations
Women in conflict with the law and their service providers also
described concerns about access to restorative justice. This can
have unique impacts on women, as they may be being coerced to
give information about an abuser or about a male who exercises
power and control in their life.

13. 19
Women’s vision of restoring harm
Woman-centeredness and the undermining of systemic
discrimination
Support for women’s services and other community resources
Economic independence and restitution
Better physical security measures for survivors of male violence
Community education and activism
20
Implications for theory and Practice
The use of a particular restorative justice intervention may not
be suited for all victim, offender, and relationship types.
Assessment tools must be devised that take into account the
characteristics and histories of both victims and offenders, as
well as relationship patterns and community resources.
A restorative justice intervention should be viewed as one step
in a much longer and broader process of transforming an

14. abusive relationship into a safe and respectful one.
Restorative justice models have the potential to build
community and mobilize resources around victims and offenders
so as to create optimal conditions for behavior and relationship
change.
There is need for greater collaboration and learning between
different fields involved with intimate partner violence.
Future research and practice must draw from the years of
accumulated knowledge and experience on how perpetrators of
violence change and how victims recover.
Facilitators should be well trained in the impact of abuse and
trauma on victims and offenders, as well as knowledgeable
about the subtle and varied forms of abuse and underlying
relationship dynamics.
21
Discussion Board Question
Please use the lecture notes as well as class discussion to
answer the following questions
What is, or ought to be the relationship between restorative
justice and social justice (more specifically indigenous

15. women’s rights)
22
The end
A tribute the Eliza Mighty and Lillian Chambers
Student Support: Case Review
23