Solving moral conflicts. Case restorative justice in domestic violence cases

ABSTRACT

Although restorative conflict resolution is gaining a steady foothold in many contexts, the context of domestic violence is strongly debated. The debate has been continuing and it still does. The argument in this paper sustains that the debate represents a typical conflict. When appreciating one, it is important to discern the core of it. The paper goes then on to arguing that the debate represents a typical moral conflict, rather than a judicial or a political one. The paper aims at establishing a framework for solving of moral conflicts, in the light of the debate between the advocates and the critics of restorative justice in domestic violence cases. As such the paper seeks to make a contribution to not only the debate relating to restorative justice in domestic violence cases but to restorative conflict resolution in general and to conflicts typical in societies today.

KEYWORDS:

• Domestic violence
• moral conflicts
• restorative justice
• conflict resolution
• ethics

Acknowledgments

This article has been written under a grant of Svenska Litteratursällskapet – Society of Swedish Literature in Finland

Disclosure statement

This is to acknowledge that there is no financial interest or benefit that has arisen from the direct applications of the research.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Society of Swedish Literature in Finland (SLS).

Notes on contributors

Heidi Jokinen

Heidi Jokinen has earned her PhD in Theological Ethics and Philosophy of Religion on a dissertation dealing with a conceptual analysis of victim-offender mediation as a late-modern method of conflict resolution. She functions currently as a post doctoral researcher at Åbo Akademi University in Finland, under a grant of Svenska Litteratursällskapet – Society of Swedish Litterature in Finland focusing on restorative justice in domestic violence cases.