ABSTRACT
Child sexual abuse is a serious and pervasive problem, which may lead to extensive, irreparable harm. Studies show those who were sexually assaulted as youths may exhibit increased levels of depression, anxiety, suicidal ideation, substance abuse, eating disorders, anger, resentment, low self-esteem, shame and self-blame. Additionally, child sexual abuse victims-survivors often have difficulty trusting others and forming intimate, interpersonal relationships. These psychological, emotional, physical and behavioural effects can be debilitating to some and permeate all aspects of their lives in both the short and long term. Theoretically, a restorative justice approach could help restore harm to victim-survivors of child sexual abuse through voluntary and honest dialogue between affected parties. Yet while there are many restorative justice options available to assist crime victims generally, there are few options for helping the victims-survivors of child sexual abuse. The restorative justice programmes that do exist lack consistency in definition, approach and application, and there is little research on the efficacy of these programmes. This chapter examines the research that does exist on restorative justice approaches for victim-survivors of child sexual abuse and discusses policy implications based on what is known.
