Restorative Justice as a Response to Sexual Offending Addressing the Failings of Current Punitive Approaches Anne-Marie McAlinden School of Law, Queen s University Belfast [Sexual Offender Treatment, Volume 3 (2008), Issue 1] Abstract This article explores the use of restorative justice as a response to sexual crime. The management of high risk sex offenders, particularly in the community post-release, has been a key focus of contemporary popular and political debates on sexual offending. Many offenders fail to come to the attention of the criminal justice system. For those that do, there is the almost blanket application of recent control in the community measures such as sex offender registries and community notification which have failed to prevent reoffending. The response by the media and the public to the presence of sex offenders in the community may also impede offender rehabilitation. The use of punishment alone via formal criminal justice is, therefore, an inadequate deterrent for sexual crimes. Although controversial, this article advocates the use of restorative practices with sexual crime as a proactive, holistic response to the problem and ultimately as a more effective means of reducing the incidence of sexual offences and sex offender recidivism. 1 Key words: restorative justice, sex offender, recidivism, risk management The Failure of the Punitive Response The case for restorative justice as applied to sexual offences is often based on a twin premise - the failings of current punitive responses and the prospect of offering a more viable solution to victims, families and communities affected by sexual offending (Finstad, 1990; Braithwaite & Daly, 1994; Hudson, 2002). Formal criminal justice is often limited in its response to these types of offences (McAlinden, 2007). The very nature of the system means that, at best, it can only ever hope to deal effectively with those offenders who have already come to the attention of law enforcement authorities. In practice, this actually covers a very small number of offenders. Some estimates, for example, suggest that fewer than five per cent of sex offenders are ever apprehended (Salter, 2003). Evidence from self-report studies also suggests that those convicted of sexual crime often reveal the commission of many more offences than are reported to authorities by their victims (Groth et al, 1982; Abel et al, 1987). One of the underlying facets of sexual crime, particularly child sexual abuse, is that it often remains hidden and undisclosed. The low number of prosecutions for sexual offences have variously been attributed to low levels of reporting (Grubin, 1998; Myhill & Allen, 2002) and recording of sexual offences, and evidential difficulties and victim anxieties about the trial (Hudson, 2002). At the same time, research demonstrates that instances of reoffending may be confined to a small group of sex offenders (Hanson and Harris, 2000; Hanson et al, 2003), particularly where no treatment has been undertaken (Hanson et al, 2002). Thus, as this article will suggest, targeted interventions should sensibly be aimed at probing this level of unknown risk as well as addressing the needs of the small known high risk group. Sexual Offender Treatment | ISSN 1862-2941 Page 1 of 12