Restorative Justice for Sexual Violence: Perspectives of People Who Have Committed Sexual Offences
DETAILS
Call for Papers
Restorative Justice for Sexual Violence: Perspectives of People Who Have Committed Sexual Offences
Journal: Journal of Criminal Psychology
Publisher: Emerald Publishing
Special Issue
Abstract Submission Deadline: 1 October 2026
Manuscript Submission Opens: 4 January 2027
Manuscript Submission Deadline: 20 December 2027
The Journal of Criminal Psychology invites submissions for a Special Issue examining restorative justice in cases of sexual violence from the perspectives and lived experiences of people who have committed sexual offences.
About the Special Issue
Restorative justice offers an alternative framework for addressing harm, responsibility, accountability, and repair. However, research examining restorative justice in sexual violence cases from the perspective of people who have committed sexual offences remains comparatively limited.
This Special Issue seeks to address this gap by exploring how these individuals understand and experience restorative justice processes, including their perceptions of accountability, responsibility, apology, repair, rehabilitation, and reintegration. It also encourages critical examination of the ethical, practical, and risk-related challenges involved in their participation.
Topics of Interest
Submissions may address, but are not limited to:
Perspectives of people who have committed sexual offences
Lived experiences within restorative justice processes
Motivations for participating in restorative justice
Barriers to engagement and participation
Constructions of accountability
Understandings of responsibility
Apology within restorative justice
Repair and responses to harm
Desistance following restorative justice processes
Rehabilitation
Reintegration
Consent in restorative justice processes
Coercion and voluntary participation
Power imbalances
Ethical challenges surrounding participation
Risk-related considerations
Practitioner perspectives
Participant assessment and suitability
Restorative justice facilitation
Process design
Research Focus
The Special Issue particularly encourages research that centres the perspectives and lived experiences of people who have committed sexual offences, while critically considering the safeguards and complexities involved in restorative justice for sexual violence.
Research examining practitioner approaches to assessment, facilitation, ethical decision-making, risk management, consent, power dynamics, and process design is also relevant to the scope of the issue.
Submission Information
Abstract Submission Deadline: 1 October 2026
Abstracts should be submitted by email to:
Dr Masahiro Suzuki — m.suzuki@lboro.ac.uk
Dr Estelle Zinsstag — E.Zinsstag@napier.ac.uk
Manuscript Submission Opens: 4 January 2027
Manuscript Submission Deadline: 20 December 2027
Full manuscripts should be submitted through the Journal of Criminal Psychology ScholarOne Manuscripts system.
Authors must select “Restorative Justice for Sexual Violence: Perspectives of People Who Have Committed Sexual Offences” from the Special Issue options during the submission process.
Submitted manuscripts must follow the journal's author guidelines, must not have been previously published, and must not be under consideration elsewhere while being reviewed by the journal.
Guest Editors
Dr Masahiro Suzuki
Loughborough University, United Kingdom
Email: m.suzuki@lboro.ac.uk
Dr Estelle Zinsstag
Edinburgh Napier University, United Kingdom
Email: E.Zinsstag@napier.ac.uk
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