This one-day event is a must for anyone who has a vested interest in the justice and healing needs of either the perpetrators and survivors of sexual violence. This interactive workshop will explore whether restorative justice could be an alternative justice option for survivors.The application of restorative justice to cases of sexual violence is relatively new. However, with the growth of victim-requested service provision the number of these case referrals is growing considerably, as is the number of referrals for cases that fall outside of the criminal justice system.

The aim of the day is to identify issues that might be encountered when considering the use of restorative approaches to incidents that have not been processed by the criminal justice system, and to formulate sensitive, legal and practical solutions to these. The ultimate goal for the day will be to create set of policy and practice guidelines for restorative justice services that have experience in working with complex and sensitive cases.

The day’s events will begin with the presentation of Dr Nadia Wager’s recent research findings regarding the extent to which individuals who report sexual victimisation to the police are likely to feel they have had their justice needs met through the criminal justice system and the desires of some survivors to see restorative justice being available as an alternative to traditional justice. This will be followed by the all-important roundtable discussions and plenary sessions.

The likely delegates will be drawn from several different professional and experiential backgrounds (e.g. criminal justice system, survivor support services, survivors, social scientists and restorative justice facilitators and service managers). Whilst the topic is relatively controversial and there are likely to be strong opinions both in favour and opposition of the use of restorative justice in this way, it is anticipated that with passionate and respectful discussion and debate a mutually agreed way forward can be forged.