Restorative Justice, Domestic Violence and Resilience: An Explorative Study of Hong Kong Domestic Violence Cases

Abstract

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.

Citation

Ou, A. (2023), "Restorative Justice, Domestic Violence and Resilience: An Explorative Study of Hong Kong Domestic Violence Cases", Orton, B. (Ed.) Gendered Perspectives of Restorative Justice, Violence and Resilience: An International Framework (Diverse Perspectives on Creating a Fairer Society), Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 63-78. https://doi.org/10.1108/978-1-80382-383-620231005