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Abstract: 

Dr. Annie Cossins, associate professor of law at the University of New South Wales (Sydney) and founder of Australia’s National Child Sexual Assault Reform Committee, argues that it is almost never appropriate to apply restorative justice methods in child sexual assault cases—and in the rare cases where RJ might be effective, it should only be applied after significant reforms to current practice. This column outlines the arguments Dr. Cossins marshalls in her brief and an opposing perspective offered by Dr. Kathleen Daly, a professor of Criminology and Criminal Justice at Griffith University (Brisbane), an expert on restorative, Indigenous, and international justice in the framework of gender, race, and social inequality.

Keywords: Revictimization; power imbalances; victim satisfaction; offender participation

Affiliations:  1: John Jay College of Criminal Justice.