“Child Sexual Abuse
… is real and has penetrated the core of our modern societies. It involves the person entrusted with protecting a child, violating their position of power. School teachers, spiritual leaders, parents, family members, doctors, scout leaders and coaches have all been included in the list of perpetrators” (Gavrielides, 2005).
“Restorative Justice
… is an ethos with practical goals, among which is to restore harm by including affected parties in a (direct or indirect) encounter and a process of understanding through voluntary and honest dialogue. Restorative justice adopts a fresh approach to conflicts and their control, retaining at the same time certain rehabilitative goals” (Gavrielides 2007: 139). It can offer an alternative way of dealing with child sexual abuse based on evidence and on a case by case basis (Gavrielides, 2012).
Institutional abuse
Since 2004, Dr. Gavrielides has led on an international, research and policy project looking at the potential of restorative justice with clergy child sexual abuse cases that occurred within the Catholic Church and other faith institutions. This work started in the USA and now continues in the UK and other countries. It is also intended that evidence-based models can be developed for replication.
The Programme
As the Principal Investigator (PI), Professor Gavrielides placed this multi-year programme within the RJ4All International Institute. As an open, international programme of practice, theory and social policy, we are keen to hear from anyone working in the area of child sexual abuse especially with the prospect of creating joint collaboration. Through evidence-based arguments, research and networking, the project aims to:
Increase public awareness of restorative justice
Encouraging a public debate about its potential for helping to heal the harm caused by child sexual abuse cases such as those that occurred within the Catholic Church;
Contribute to the academic literature
Through peer review journals, academic books and articles so as to enrich an under-developed research area.
Encourage institutions to pilot restorative justice
Deliver safe pilots within institutions such as the Catholic Church, evaluate their impact and allow others to learn from practice so that it can be replicate in similar context.
Influence national and international policy
Use the evidence from the pilots, research and campaigns to inform international policy and encourage debates on the matter. A recent example is the programme organised by the International Institute for the Sociology of Law in Onati, Spain.
Through qualitative research, policy development and campaigning, the project aims to explore alternative ways that can genuinely help address the harm that these cases have caused to the abused, communities and the involved faith institutions.
The project is unfunded and we are interested in hearing from potential partners, sponsors and donors
Project Published Research & Background
In 2005, Gavrielides and Coker published “ Restoring Faith: Resolving the Catholic Church’s Sexual Scandals Through Restorative Justice”, 8:4 Contemporary Justice Review. The paper reported on the main findings of the first stage of the RJ4All project. This centered on desk research that looked into existing and past international restorative practices with child sexual abuse. The paper also provided a critical overview of restorative practices and research projects that have been implemented with clergy sexual offending cases. The results of these programmes were contrasted with notorious clergy sexual abuse cases that had been processed through the traditional criminal justice system.
Subsequently, Gavrielides conducted primary qualitative research with survivors, practitioners and interested parties. The new publication Gavrielides, T. (2012) “Clergy Child Sexual Abuse & the Restorative Justice Dialogue”, Journal of Church and State, argues the following: Firstly, these cases extend beyond the breach of state laws. They have multiple psychological and existential implications and constitute a violation of victims’ faith, identity and basic human right to dignity, as well as the sacramental culture of Catholicism. Secondly, due to this additional dimension, the impact of clergy child sexual abuse cases on all parties involved can best be mitigated through user-led reconciliation processes such as “dialogue”. Thirdly, one form of such a dialogue could be restorative justice. Its potential as an alternative model to traditional litigation and station action were examined. Critical analysis of the extant literature and a selection of case studies were attempted in an effort to identify next steps for researchers and policy makers in this grey area of practice.
As part of this project, he recently published a blog with reflections on his discussions with a paedophile. A chapter is also included in the International Handbook of Restorative Justice written by Professor Karen Terry and edited by Professor Theo Gavrielides.
Publications include
Gavrielides, T. (2012) “Clergy Child Sexual Abuse & the Restorative Justice Dialogue“, Journal of Church and State, Volume 55, Issue 4, 1 December 2013, Pages 617–639, https://doi.org/10.1093/jcs/css041.
Gavrielides, T. (2012) “Clergy sexual abuse: the restorative justice option” in K.V Wormer & L. Walker Restorative Justice Today: Applications of Restorative Interventions, Sage: California;
Gavrielides T. and D. Coker (2005) “Restoring Faith: Resolving the Catholic Church’s Sexual Scandals through Restorative Justice”, 8:4 Contemporary Justice Review, pp. 345-365. ISSN 1028–2580 (print) /ISSN 1477–2248.