Justice for Whom? Criminal, Civil,and Restorative Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.

The paper I will present builds on prior research of civil and criminal court responses to child sexual abuse during the 1980?s and 1990?, asking whether a restorative justice response to child sexual abuse might alleviate problems associated with punitive responses. Feminist critiques of criminal justice responses to domestic and sexual violence illuminate the evidentiary and credibility burdens that survivors of such violence face in criminal courts, as well as the associations between punitive justice and hegemonic masculinity. On the other hand, some feminists critique restorative justice responses to sexual and domestic violence, arguing that they fail to hold perpetrators fully accountable for their actions and fail to protect victims. In this paper, I engage these critiques, describing problems victims of child sexual abuse face in both civil and criminal courts, and asking whether victims? and survivors? advocates could help alleviate such problems by modeling responses to child sexual abuse after current restorative responses to domestic and sexual violence. I also consider the extent to which civil court responses serve at least some of the functions sought under restorative models of justice and may be more conducive to rights-based claims than either criminal or restorative responses. My research is drawn from civil cases, criminal law, survivor movement literature, and academic feminist research in restorative justice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]