Gender-based violence refers to any harm perpetrated against individuals or groups due to their sex, gender, sexual orientation, and/or gender identity. This definition, rooted in the Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence (Istanbul Convention), encompasses a wide range of violence including domestic violence and intimate partner violence, which are not always criminalised but have profound impacts on victims.
The Istanbul Convention defines domestic violence as “all acts of physical, sexual, psychological or economic violence that occur within the family or domestic unit or between former or current spouses or partners, whether or not the perpetrator shares or has shared the same residence with the victim”. Therefore, it includes two main types of violence:
Intimate partner violence (IPV): Violence between current or former spouses or partners.
Intergenerational violence: Violence typically occurs between parents and children.
These definitions emphasise that domestic violence is a gender-neutral issue, affecting victims and perpetrators of all sexes.
Although RJ4All adopts the term harmed party or survivor over the term victim of these forms of violence, according to the language of the “European Directive on minimum standards of rights, support and protection of victims of crime” (Victims Directive) ‘victim’ means a natural person who has suffered harm, including physical, mental or emotional harm or economic loss which was directly caused by a criminal offence and family members of a person whose death was directly caused by a criminal offence and who have suffered harm as a result of that person’s death.
Restorative Justice in Cases of Gender-Based Violence
Restorative justice can offer a framework for addressing gender-based violence by focusing on the redistribution of power lost by victims. Over time, some victim support groups have expressed skepticism regarding restorative justice in cases of gender-based violence due to existing power imbalances in intimate violent relationships. Critics argue that restorative justice could privatise gender-based violence, potentially revictimising women and exacerbating power imbalances (Pali and Madsen, 2011). Additionally, some view restorative justice as an “easy way forward” for offenders (Wager, 2013, p. 16; Marsh and Wager, 2015).
However, these critiques are often theoretical and lack substantial evidence. In practice, restorative justice, when implemented with all the safeguards in place, has proven effective in serious cases, including violence against women (Gavrielides, 2017; McGlynn et al., 2012; Knowles, 2013). Restorative justice addresses the shortcomings victims face in conventional justice systems by empowering them to articulate their harm and healing needs. The Victims Directive mandates that victims have access to safe and competent restorative justice services.
