Daniel Del Gobbo (University of Windsor Faculty of Law) and Jennifer Llewellyn (Schulich School of Law, Dalhousie University) have posted Restorative Justice and Sexual Harm: A Pathway to Gender Equality and Justice Transformation (forthcoming, 74:4 Criminal Law Quarterly (2026)) on SSRN. Here is the abstract:
Following in the wake of the “Hockey Canada trial” in 2025, this article begins from the recognition that sexual harm is a complex social problem of gender inequality in Canada that requires a transformative approach to remediate effectively. Restorative justice is one such transformative approach. In Ontario, however, where the Hockey Canada trial took place, Crown prosecution policy states that individuals charged with sexual offences are categorically ineligible to be diverted to restorative programs at pre-trial stage. In other provinces, there are similar policies and other moratoriums in place that limit the use of restorative justice to varying degrees. Building on insights from the criminal law, feminist legal theory, and penal abolition fields, this article argues that these policies should be revised and moratoriums should be lifted to enable restorative justice to be more widely available in sexual harm cases.
Highly recommended.
Lawrence Solum