Restorative justice for sexual violence: Repairing victims, building community, and holding offenders accountable

Problems in criminal justice system response to date and acquaintance rape, and the nonpenetration sexual offenses are identified: (1) these crimes are often markers of a career of sexual offense, yet they are widely viewed as minor; (2) perpetrators of these crimes are now held accountable in ways that reduce their future threat of sex offending; and (3) current criminal justice response to these crimes disappoints and traumatizes victims and families. In response to these identified problems, we are implementing and evaluating RESTORE, an innovative victim-driven, community-based restorative justice program. Restorative justice views crime as harm for which the person responsible must be held accountable in meaningful ways. RESTORE uses a community conference to involve the victim, offender, and both parties' family and friends in a face-to-face dialogue directed at identifying the harm, and developing a plan for repair, rehabilitation, and reintegration into the community.