Gendered Perspectives of Restorative Justice, Violence and Resilience: An International Framework

Restorative justice (RJ) approach is currently not a mainstream practice for addressing the issue of intimate partner violence (IPV) in Singapore. In IPV, the persons affected are not limited to the persons experiencing violence (PEV) and persons using violence (PUV). There is a ripple effect when IPV happens and oftentimes, children, significant others and people in the community are negatively impacted. In short, IPV hurts self and relationships. Being relational in focus, the authors believe that an RJ approach can bring about healing and growth for persons directly or indirectly affected by the violence by building connectedness and a person’s relational capacity.

The authors proposed a framework for IPV work in the context of males using violence and females experiencing violence. Anchored in four working principles that are based on RJ, this framework seeks to guide practitioners to journey with affected parties in their healing process. In their endeavour to make a case for RJ in IPV work, the authors also offered possibilities and challenges for restorative IPV intervention in Singapore’s current landscape.

The authors strongly believe that an RJ-influenced practice has the potential to break the violent cycle by disrupting the conditions associated with IPV, including isolation, economic stress and societal norms regarding gender expectations. The authors also opined that an RJ-influenced practice can create a sustained longer-term outcome of healthy relationships through establishing non-violence behaviour as a societal norm.

This chapter looks at the methodology, benefits and accessibility of circle processes in the context of building resilience amongst women (and men) in high violence communities in South Africa. It examines the methodology and effectiveness of circles in two communities (Manenberg and Lavender Hill) where pilot projects are being undertaken.

In the last 10 years, India has amended its laws dealing with sexual offences against women with the changes ranging from increasing terms of imprisonment for the offence of rape to state-funded compensation schemes for women and child victims. In this regard, challenges persist for the agencies of the criminal justice system in India especially the courts to realise the vision of restorative justice as these forums have to navigate the relevant statutory provisions and binding precedents. This chapter seeks to analyse the challenges faced by courts in proper reintegration of victims and offenders of sexual offences, the institutional responses of the courts and suggests reforms to the criminal justice system in India in consonance with the principles of restorative justice acknowledged in the restorative justice movement in the international discourse.

Domestic violence in Hong Kong is understudied in various ways: (a) there is no study about the relationships between restorative justice and domestic violence, (b) women’s resilience in the context of domestic violence is seldom mentioned and (c) practitioners’ perspective is often not voiced. This chapter is an explorative study aiming at finding out the following: (a) the relationships between restorative justice and domestic violence in the context of Hong Kong, (b) the understanding and practical implications of women’s resilience from a cultural perspective and (c) the challenges of social work deliverance to victims of domestic violence in Hong Kong. The research of this chapter has been conducted by in-depth interviews with five social work practitioners who deal with victims of domestic violence daily. Three specific cases of domestic violence have been selected and systematically analysed, and the temporal results are: (a) it is challenging to exercise ‘restorative justice’ in cases of domestic violence; (b) Chinese women have a very different understanding of the ‘western’ concept of ‘women’s resilience’; (c) any social work relating to ‘women’s resilience’ is challenging to apply to Hong Kong and arguably any Asian contexts, and (d) restorative justice is not a widespread practice when it comes to domestic violence in Hong Kong.

The focus of this chapter is drawn from the author’s lived experience and background as a third generation stateless Palestinian refugee who lived in one of the Palestinian camps in Lebanon and inherited the refugeeship from her parents and grandparents. Even though the author agrees with Hannah Arendt (1943) that ‘We don’t like to be called refugees’ (p. 264), the process of this research and thoughts behind it are attributed to the author’s personal experiences, as Arendt (1964) confirms in her statement that the process of thought can seldom be possible without being attributed to a personal experience.

Research on the practice of child marriage has been extensive, with studies recommending local strategies that are peculiar to the countries involved. Rights-based literature also recommends stringent laws; portraying the girls involved as helpless victims needing external agencies to rescue them from parochial and oppressive cultural practices. This chapter, however, presents their resilience as they navigate through the challenges and trauma of demeaning marriage practices. Their ability to rise above the challenges of child marriage contradicts the stereotypical perception of being passive and unable to develop agency and empower themselves. The author also draw from the experiences of these young women to argue for restorative justice (RJ) to tackle child marriage issues. Indeed, a restorative process is likely to prove far more effective in achieving social discipline than the current reliance on punishment and sanctions. More so, harm as a result of child marriage is a violation against the victim and not necessarily the state. Hence, RJ, which is future-focussed with healing and prevention as key goals, would be more suitable.

Some women who left situations of exploitation falling under the umbrella term of modern slavery in the United Kingdom (UK) are mothers whom I calls survivor mothers in this chapter. Some are determined agents driven to provide better lives for their children. In their journeys after exploitation, they may draw resilience from various resources such as children and survivor communities. The findings in this chapter are based on data collected as part of a broader research project focussing on women’s journeys after exiting exploitation in the UK. Through decolonial feminist methods using a narrative analysis of semi-structured interviews with survivor mothers, I have examined children and survivor communities as resources of resilience in tandem with the structural violence that harms survivor mothers’ capabilities of remodelling life after exploitation. At the same time, I recognise that vulnerability caused by structural violence can drive resistance. By way of resistance, some survivor mothers assert agency. Additionally, I criticise the reductive use of resilience as it often ignores complex structural factors. I conclude that it is impossible to employ resilience uncritically in life after exploitation.

Mothers – The Silent supporters focus on the potential role of the mother in the restorative justice (RJ) process. This chapter provides a contextual framework for the research highlighting debates pertaining to RJ and parents, especially mothers. This was made possible with a grant from the BA/Leverhulme Small Research Grants. The research provided a holistic understanding of social backgrounds and links between theory and the practice of RJ. The workshop provided a multi-perspective analysis of the interactions within significant relationships between mothers and sons. The author’s focus was on the role of the mother prior to the RJ process. The workshops were held in a safe space in a northern region. The mothers were from different economic and social backgrounds.

The herstory of Black women in South Africa is one of sexualised forms of political, physical and psychological violence. A herstory of violence, oppression, exploitation, victimisation, imprisonment and police brutality. The apartheid government used violence to control women, their bodies, their religious and spiritual experiences. The feeling of disregard for African women is echoed in an interview with Mhlophe, a South African author, playwright and actress, when she talks about the Battle of Blood River and emphasises how there is no mention of women. ‘Did those men have no sisters, no mothers who helped them? Our history is very unbalanced’ (August, 1990, p. 332).