Are you a survivor of sexual violence and looking for a way to justice and healing beyond traditional responses? Are you in a place in your healing process where you wish the person who harmed you would apologize and express a desire to stop their harmful behaviors? Do you want more community-based support as you process your healing?
Restorative Justice at WOAR could potentially be an option for you.
What is Restorative Justice?
Restorative justice is a practice of repairing harm. That can look different depending on each survivor’s situation.
Examples of restorative justice are:
- A community supporting a person through their healing journey.
- Accountability from the person who caused harm.
- Engagement with the community that may have enabled harm.
The Restorative Justice Process
In a restorative justice process, community members come together to offer support to the person who has experienced harm. Depending on the needs of the person who experienced harm, the WOAR facilitator could engage the community, the person who caused harm, and others impacted in any number of ways that could foster healing and justice.
Restorative justice often includes a combination of interventions, such as:
- A review of harmful patterns
- Self-reflection
- Reparative dialogue
- Community commitment to prevent and respond to future harm
Restorative Justice is Not the Legal System
Restorative justice is different from the legal system in that it doesn’t deliver punishment but instead dialogue. Filing a police report isn’t for everybody. WOAR’s restorative justice pilot program is entirely outside of the court system.
It’s as simple as mapping out where your pain points are in your healing process and looking for creative ways to address those needs both internally and externally through community support and accountability. It might involve identifying a circle of caring community members for when you’re struggling. It might look like a written apology from the person who harmed you after they’ve done their own internal work.
Your healing needs guide the process. Every restorative justice process is unique and every part of it is optional. You get to choose what will best support your healing and help you move forward.
Although it’s an option, there is no requirement to work directly with the person who harmed you or to have a face-to-face interaction if you don’t want that. Restorative justice is just as much about bolstering community support around a person who has been hurt as it is about accountability and repairing harm with the person who caused it.
If you want your process to involve accountability from the person who harmed you, we can aim for that. But it’s important to know that it is consensual on all sides. If the other party opts out of participation and does not want to engage, we cannot force them to take accountability. Your WOAR facilitator will advocate for your healing and reparative goals to be met, however, we cannot guarantee that all parties will make the same commitment and efforts as you. Regardless of how engaged other people in your community are in this process, WOAR will be there to support you through the process every step of the way.
How To Join the Program
To participate in the Restorative Justice Pilot Program, you need to be:
- A person who has experienced sexual violence as an adult (over 18) living in Philadelphia
- You need to be looking to prioritize accountability and healing over punishment
- Be willing to share your experience with the community members of your choice
Additionally, the harm must be over—we cannot work with situations where harm is currently ongoing because the program does not offer violence intervention at this time.
If you are interested in being a part of this program, please email RestorativeJustice@WOAR.org.
Alternative Routes to Justice Report
WOAR is part of the Shared Safety working group which aimed to explore what justice means for survivors of intimate partner and sexual violence, human trafficking, and reproductive coercion (referred to collectively as relational violence). The working group sought feedback from survivors in Philadelphia through a needs assessment survey and this final report presents recommendations for how stakeholder groups can better support survivors.
Download the full report and read more about the Alternative Routes to Justice Report on this page.
