PAPER WITHDRAWN--Law, Restorative Justice, and Gender Based Violence.

Co-Presenters: Melanie Randall, Assoc. Prof, Law, UWODr. Lori Haskell, Ed.D., C.Psych.Clinical Psychologist / Assistant Professor, Psychiatry, University of Toronto (Status Appointment)In this presentation we critically assess some of the possibilities for the application of a restorative justice legal approach to crimes of violence against women in intimate relationships. Several decades of research and analysis of traditional criminal justice system approaches to domestic violence and sexual assault suggest that this system has profound deficiencies in providing an adequate legal response or remedy. These deficiencies are even more stark when examined from victims' perspectives. Restorative justice is an approach which potentially offers a more respectful, inclusive and victim centred response to remedying crimes of gendered intimate violence, yet it also carries with it significant challenges and limitations, conceptually and concretely. Part of this presentation will involve critically engaging the major lines of controversy within the field, especially the feminist literature, surrounding restorative justice and crimes of gendered violence.In order to take seriously the concerns, challenges and transformative possibilities of the use of a restorative justice approach to cases involving gendered violence, we need to think about the issue from a more sound theoretical base which builds upon a more clearly articulated definition of what restorative justice actually is, and a recognition that all those programs situating themselves under the restorative justice umbrella may not, in fact, adhere to its defining principles. Part of this presentation will address an academic-community collaborative research project being undertaken in Canada (Nova Scotia) to contribute theoretically and empirically to our knowledge about restorative justice in practice. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]