What Does Justice Look Like for Survivors of Intimate Partner Violence? A Qualitative Study of Women Who Did and Did Not Pursue Legal Action Against Their Abusers.

Résumé

How do survivors of intimate partner violence (IPV) conceptualize justice? In this exploratory qualitative study, I interviewed 30 female IPV survivors, 17 of whom pursued charges against their abuser and 13 who had not, asking: What does justice look like? Of particular interest was whether survivors' responses would align with tenets of restorative justice. A thematic analysis finds instead that justice for survivors is safety, which existing systems fail to ensure. Regardless of justice involvement, survivors were unanimous in calling for rehabilitation over imprisonment yet stopped short of a restorative justice orientation. My conceptual framework is a call to action acknowledging survivors' need for safety yet envisioning broader restorative possibilities, namely through financial redress and mental health treatment.