Restorative Justice for Domestic Violence: The Meaning of Community in Circles

ABSTRACT

Although community involvement is a central ideal in restorative justice (RJ), its implementation in practice has scarcely been researched. This study used interpretive phenomenological analysis of interviews and focus groups to explore 16 circle participants’ and stakeholders’ perceptions of community in a domestic violence RJ program called circles of Peace. Three themes emerged: Importance of community involvement, Offenders’ prospects of change when the community is involved, and circles as a community within a community. The discussion highlights the beneficial role of community in the restorative process, as well as limitations and practical implications of the study.

KEYWORDS:

• Circles of Peace
• community
• domestic violence
• interpretive phenomenological analysis
• restorative justice

Acknowledgments

We express our gratitude to the participants in this study—the stakeholders and Circles of Peace participants—allowing us greater insight into the meaning of community in a restorative justice program. We are thankful for the partnerships with the judiciary and the community-based organization that made this study possible. We are grateful to all the members of the research team who worked on this project or reviewed earlier drafts of this article including Linda G. Mills, Gale Burford, Yangjin Park, and Krystal McLeod.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by a grant from the New York University Research Challenge Fund Program.