#MeToo Justice: Exploring the Tensions Between Retribution, Restoration, and Procedural Fairness

• In Event: Criminal Justice Policies, Laws, and Ideology

Abstract

With one tweet asking for survivors to make their status “Me Too” to illuminate the magnitude of sexual violence, the #MeToo movement went from a small grassroots campaign to help black and brown girls heal from sexual violence to one of the most talked about feminist movements in the past 20 years. The #MeToo movement has sought to provide survivors with an outlet to tell their stories and support one another. For many people it is about holding offenders accountable for their actions and/or transforming the social norms that breed sexual violence and harassment. It is clear that there are tensions between demands for accountability and retribution for offenders and the restorative justice goals of healing and transformation. Adding to this complexity are questions about procedural fairness, both in the survivors’ tales of victimization and in the treatment by the movement of alleged offenders. The goal of this project is to explore these tensions through a media and narrative analysis of news reports and Twitter posts to understand how the movement, the backlash, and the media might challenge or reflect larger debates within the retributive, restorative, and procedural justice literature.

Author

• Kasey Ragan, University of California, Irvine