Poster #184 - Restorative Justice for Sexual Offenses in Punitive Societies: Is it Feasible? The Chilean Prosecutors Perspective

• In Event: ASC Poster Session I

Abstract

In the last decades restorative justice has gained significant traction in some European and Anglo-Saxon countries. However, the case for Latin America is a different story, since it is arguably the most violent and punitive region in the world. The public, media and politicians hold ever-growing punitive expectations while trusting very little on criminal justice agencies. Within this context, Chile has been characterized as an authoritarian society, with a strong centralized state which emphasises law as the primary source of conflict resolution and gives little room to citizens in the resolution of criminal interpersonal conflicts. Typically, the reaction to the transgression of sexually violent offences is a highly punitive one, and criminal justice system response reflects an automatised and irreflective punitive apriorism.
In this early stage, this exploratory research investigates the perspective of the Chilean Prosecution Office on the potential use of restorative justice to address sexual violence cases. Using semi-structured interviews, it explores the cultural and legal challenges of using restorative meetings to address highly spurned offences, trying to unravel our ‘external legal culture’. It aims at exploring how cultural and institutional settings embedded in a highly punitive society match or collide with prosecutors’ perspective upon the matter

Author

• Pablo Pineda, University of York