Restorative Justice

Policy goal
The policy goal in terms of responding to child sexual assault and abuse is to decriminalise the occurrence of child sexual assault and abuse and this aims to achieve more equality, understanding, fairness, justice and reconciliation within the society. This can be achieved through the application and utilisation of Restorative Justice (RJ). In terms of the stakeholders, the survivors, their families, the community and the government organisations would benefit from the reparative and restorative aspect of RJ as they would believe that the offender truly understands their wrongdoing and knows and attempts to make amends. In terms of the offender, they would greatly benefit by utilising the RJ process, as they would be given
RJ is popular and implemented worldwide due to its ability to link the contemporary beliefs of the community to the punishment, those being the notions of repairing the damages, restoring good faith, reconciling with the survivors and reintegrating within the community. RJ offers a flexible, humane and informal atmosphere during the process, which allows for genuine participation and involvement on behalf of all the parties with a stake in the sexual abuse and assault case. RJ successfully ceases ‘misconduct, punishment, retribution, vengeance and recidivism’, and in its place promotes compassion, repentance and accountability, with the opportunity for reconciliation and
In this case, restorative justice has the means to offer a unique opportunity to exchange wants, needs, ideas and thoughts between the parties affected. This allows the survivor and the offender to assess the assault and abuse as well as its consequences. Due to the involvement of both parties in the process, the victim no longer feels intimidated by the wrongdoer, which entirely reorganises their affiliation. Since both stakeholders hold the responsibility to express their motivation, ability and willingness to manage the outcomes of the event, it can be concluded that there is an overall greater compliance with agreements, as well as a reduced imprisonment and recidivism rate, which satisfied the interests of the victims, society and the offender(s). If this process is taken sincerely and with diligence, compassion and patience, it can be very successful in regaining control of the situation in terms of the victim, and righting the wrongs by the offender. Even with a lack of guarantees, restorative justice has a lot to offer to all stakeholders, including the potential to enlighten one’s understanding of the past events, as well as enriching lives and self-development of not only victims, but also their families as well as the offenders. “One can move one