Scotland plans for restorative justice - with victims of rape and domestic abuse

[ResisterRex]

This is a rather short article but I have misgivings about the use of restorative justice for cases such as rape and domestic abuse. I can't see how the power imbalance could ever be satisfactorily addressed for this to be used.

It may well be done after the criminal justice process has taken place, but even that seems naive when you think about the domestic murders that happen, following repeated contact with the police.

It feels dangerous.

Victims to meet rapists under new scheme

www.thetimes.co.uk/article/3e1e3e38-e059-11ec-baab-53d14c642149?shareToken=6e6a50b341b28413747cc7b5050664d9

I couldn't imagine anything worse than being asked to let my rapist say sorry to me to shorten his jail sentence

I think this happens after the sentencing and criminal justice process. But I can't see how it works. How is it trauma-informed? How could it not lead to domestic abusers wheedling their way back in? It seems wrong.

This is a rapists’ charter to have a golden opportunity to further distress and intimidate their victims by revelling in discussing the details of the attack under pretence of being “sorry”.

It is being trialled somewhere in England too. I can't remember the details. The scheme had been outsourced but it was difficult to do a deep dive on the company handling it all. I'll try to rack my brain for the details and come back.

It's a theme is many social justice movements and yes it is dangerous.

I'm sure I've recently seen an article about how this is working out for survivors in New York (spoilers, it isn't). I think it's in the Critic. I can't believe it's over here.

It seems like a riff on abusers being able to cross examine their victims.

what an absolutely fucking awful idea.

Im with you magnolia

I thought restorative justice meant an eye for an eye then

obviously i was getting a bit over excited….but id deffo be down with it

I despair

I'm sure I've recently seen an article about how this is working out for survivors in New York (spoilers, it isn't).

Found it - Julie Bindel:

New York is betraying rape victims

"Restorative justice is a dream come true for abusers"

I heard about this on R4 this morning and thought I'd misunderstood.

I couldn't give a shiny shite if my rapists feel remorseful. It changes fuck all.

And besides NONE OF THEM ARE IN PRISON!

Before worrying about the feelings of the vanishingly minuscule minority who are a) caught and b) prosecuted and c) absolutely definitely not bring manipulative, why not work on actually sorting out the reporting and prosecution rates in the first place!

And of course Scotland wants to be a world leader in this (although it's not the first). Of course it does. It's stomach churning what's happening now. The desire to be woke has not only obscured all forms of critical thinking but resulted in a warped sense of "morality".

The only thing it's not (yet) done is centre the feelings of "MAPs". When I realised that what I was thinking I was hearing this morning was actually what I was hearing, my first thought was it's only a matter of time before Scotland "leads the way" with paedophiles.

Thanks @NecessaryScene after trawling through the Critic, and constantly getting side-tracked, it was on Unherd.

That article is short and biased. I worry that women will be put under pressure to go along with this.
No counsellor who's trained to work with victims of DA would think its a good idea to 'encourage' them to have therapy with their abuser. The dynamics don't work for the benefit of the victim.

And of course Scotland wants to be a world leader in this (although it's not the first). Of course it does. It's stomach churning what's happening now. The desire to be woke has not only obscured all forms of critical thinking but resulted in a warped sense of "morality".

This does seem to be following a pattern. Women sort everything, for everyone, to be lauded for their forgiveness/strength/the feels. We budge up, we listen, we care, we are kind and in return we get called nice and not singled out for wrongthink.

The needs/wants/feelings of women are just so much firewood to be tossed onto the bonfire of Scotland's Progressive Utopia, aren't they? With a few decorative witches adorning the top just so we can point to who the real evil ones are. Meanwhile the poor silly men who keep falling onto women and accidentally hurting them can't help it, they just need extra compassion to help them come to terms with the guilt. Boys will be boys after all.

I keep getting glimpses out of the corner of my eye of how deeply, deeply entrenched sexism runs. It's a bit horrifying. It's not just Scotland, is it?

I just feel so upset by all this. Wtf is happening to my country?

I’m glad it at least requires consent from the victim. I agree they may be pressured which would be an abuse. I think it is a very very bad idea and won’t help anyone at all.

Rapist and abusers are the cleverest most manipulative power seekers.they will fool anyone for further hurt.they will fool the powers that be so they can capture there victims once again.this shouldn't be happening.EVER.

Thanks, this rings a bell. I think I started reading this but can't have finished it.

Fuck that. I would say it's unbelievable, but it really isn't.

@aweegc - I heard the R4 programme this morning. Did you notice the Scottish woman promoting it didn't say women once? The presenter asked her for data that it was effective. She replied 'it's being used in the US' without providing any data.

(Same yesterday actually on R4 they were discussing NHS mistreatment of women who had late miscarriages - the 'expert' only talked about 'people having miscarriages.' She kept saying people. She didn't use the word 'women' at all. Some expert!)

Charley50
I turned it in while the woman was reading from her script. I was a bit confused by what was going on (unusual for a guest to read) and then by the gist missed the missing woman part. Not remotely surprised though.

I didn't hear yesterday but late last week something in Woman's Hour where the guest (nurse I think) also couldn't name women.

For every win out there, every company that comes off the Stonewall scheme, there's a little army of minions willing to carry on their work for them. I'm so dismayed. Just received a bashing on FB over the weekend too. I'm so fed up of privileged women willing to give over rights to men that they're unlikely to ever be on the sharp end of.

This x100.

I’ve posted the concept on Scotsnet where it appears to be totally acceptable 🤷🏻‍♀️

I can't even get to the end of the article. It's an utterly abhorrent programme. Those poor women. The implicit gaslighting is horrific.

Its not just the perps; abusers are drawn to positions in these kinds of organisations. I would say I hope they have robust training and safeguarding, but obviously not.

this is all to justify the existence of that useless body Community Justice who get paid vast amounts of money to come up with shite like this . As someone who has been sexually assaulted I would never in a million years want to be in same room as that person . I could go on but it just makes me so angry