A Study on the Application of Restorative Justice to Sexual Assault: Facilitators’ Perspective

• Main Authors: CHENG. YI-TING, 鄭伊庭
• Other Authors: SHEU, CHUEN-JIM
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2017
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/r3h29g

碩士 === 國立臺北大學 === 犯罪學研究所 === 105 === The purpose of this thesis was to assess facilitators’ perspectives on the application of restorative justice. A qualitative interview design was adopted to collect and analyze the data. Researchers interviewed five individuals who had facilitated consensual sexual assault cases. In these cases, the parties were under 18 and had mutually consented to a sexual relationship. After reviewing the respondents’ experiences and perspectives, the facilitators discussed their own perspectives as to how restorative justice would apply to non-consensual sexual assault cases. The research provided the following insight: 1.When applying restorative justice to consensual sexual assault cases, the facilitators perceived that: All of the respondents were agreed with this application; Due to the characteristics of these consensual sexual assault cases, the facilitators required specialized knowledge, like awareness of gender and age related issues; Offenders’ psychological factors influenced respondents’ perspectives of the applicative stage; In practice, the application of restorative justice to consensual sexual assault cases acquired the basic form of “Family Group Conferencing”; and Two factors inhibited thorough facilitation: the gender difference between the parties and the age gap between the parties and the facilitator. 2.When applying restorative justice to non-consensual sexual assault cases, the facilitators perceived that: All of the respondents maintained conservative attitudes to the application; The facilitators’ abilities were more important than the characteristics of cases; Avoiding further harm to the victims by adapting to the case circumstances is imperative; Offenders’ psychological factors influenced respondents’ perspectives of the applicative stage; and Social awareness of gender and the facilitators’ abilities influenced respondents’ perspective of the application. The research concluded that facilitation of these cases was most successful when facilitators possessed a professional background in sexual assault cases. In addition, the research provided suggestions on the direction that future research should take.