A conversation coming to Lanark County is asking a difficult question: could restorative justice ever offer survivors of intimate partner violence another path toward accountability and healing?
This week on Silence Broken: The IPV Talks, host Bob Perreault and Lanark County Interval House Executive Director Erin Lee look ahead to a Dec. 1 gathering in Beckwith involving service providers and people with lived experience.
Lee says restorative justice is often misunderstood as simply putting a survivor face-to-face with an abuser. She says any process would have to be survivor-led, voluntary and built around safety.
Lee says the approach could involve family members or other participants, but both sides would have to consent. It would also require clear thresholds to determine which cases, if any, are appropriate.
She stresses this is not a replacement for the criminal justice system and would not suit every IPV case.
The episode also examines concerns about safety, coercive control, re-victimization and whether restorative approaches could create genuine accountability.
The gathering is part of ongoing local work on alternatives.
The complete conversation is featured below in this week’s episode of Silence Broken: The IPV Talks.