Sibling sexual violence and victims’ justice interests : A comparison of youth conferencing and judicial sentencing

Restorative Responses to Sexual Violence : Legal, Social and Therapeutic Dimensions

This chapter analyses seventeen cases of sibling sexual abuse, six of which were finalised by a diversionary youth justice conference; and eleven sentenced in the Youth Court. It considers how to build that evidence base: one that can systematically assess any one justice mechanism (such as conferences) or compare it to others (criminal sentencing, victim impact statements, and state-based compensation or financial assistance schemes). The chapter describes elements of victims’ justice interests: participation, voice, validation, vindication and offender accountability-taking responsibility. Godden (2013) assessed and compared three mechanisms (criminal prosecution, restorative justice (RJ) and civil litigation) in responding to sexual violence. The chapter introduces and applies a new method to assess and compare conferences with other justice mechanisms, from a victim’s perspective: a systematic empirical assessment of multiple cases of sexual victimisation. Victim representatives, who had dual roles in representing their offending and victimised children, faced difficulties in carrying out these roles.

Inceste fraternel, Réparation, Justice

Justice restaurative