This book set out to explore the opportunities that arise from widening the scope of restorative justice by asking – does it have to be with the abuser? It began by showing that it is theoretically and conceptually possible to have restorative justice processes with enablers of abuse, before drawing on survivors’ voices and my academic and professional knowledge to blend the research findings into constructions and proposals for their practical applications. While doing so, more survivors of sexual abuse have been heard. In gifting their data to this research, all hoped it would lead to improvements for other survivors. None of these insights or proposals would have been possible without this gift from them. This text truly breaks new ground and raises a substantial framework for further research and experimentation. Nonetheless, the propositions in this text are theoretical, and should be judged on their resonance with the reader, and the activity it initiates in academics and practitioners. It is this activity which will determine whether the participants’ gift will lead to improvements for others.

As the scope of restorative justice is widened, so are the opportunities for survivors needs to be fulfilled, the opportunities for practitioners to fund and build services to meet them, and the opportunities for researching their justice needs and how well these are fulfilled. This text concludes with how these propositions may impact upon each of these groups, and where further activity may be directed in future.

Widening survivors’ opportunities

Creating more routes for survivors to have their justice needs met is imperative. Survivors are remarkably restricted in their ability to find a sense of justice after sexual abuse. The experience of victimisation remains shrouded in shame, secrecy and myth. In too many cases, it is a life-changing experience. Criminal prosecution is difficult or impossible for many survivors, and even if successful, there is no guarantee that survivors will feel justice has been served. With limited forms of redress, recovery from the trauma of sexual abuse has to take place while justice needs are unmet.

Survivors having a choice of justice options must mean a genuine choice between justice pathways. Validation can be achieved through legal means but, as shown in this research, it is fundamentally a social process.