Views of justice among survivors of historical child sexual abuse

Abstract

Restorative justice for adults in New Zealand has made a cautious start, although crimes of gendered violence are typically excluded. The findings reported in this article draw on interviews of adult survivors of child sexual abuse (eighteen women and three men), asking them to describe their experiences with the abuse and its impact, and to suggest changes to the criminal justice system, which would provide them with a sense of justice. Although the survivors spoke of justice in ways that reflected the goals of restorative justice, they were reluctant to endorse restorative justice as a paradigm within which they would pursue justice.