ABSTRACT
This chapter argues that the restorative framework has many lessons to learn from other perspectives within critical criminology in its attempt to provide answers to sexual violence. The potential benefits of restorative justice (RJ) in relation to sexual violence have been said to be mainly the attention towards the victim. The main statement characterising the feminist approach to sexual violence is that there should be criminalising legislative reforms and policies that recognise sexual violence as a crime and in its aftermath there should be a criminal intervention and punishment of offender. Most abolitionists prefer alternatives to state organised punishment, like conflict resolution and reconciliation, replacing criminal procedure by civil procedure, creating social conditions for pain reduction and even total abolition of Criminal Justice System (CJS)-related institutions. A more recent wave of critical criminologists taking issue with the concept of crime are the ones writing on the framework of 'social harm'.
