Restorative justice and sexual violence on college and university campuses: scoping review and recommendations for further research

Traditional approaches to adjudicating sexual assault on university campuses are grounded in adversarial frameworks that are arguably narrowly punitive and retraumatising for survivors. There have been many calls for “restorative justice” (RJ) as a promising alternative. However, RJ in higher education settings remains relatively underexplored, particularly in relation to sexual violence. This scoping review synthesises existing scholarship on RJ as applied to sexual violence within higher education settings in the United States. A comprehensive search was conducted in July of 2023. Emergent themes of 41 included articles were: dissatisfaction with traditional adjudication practices; enthusiasm about possibilities for introducing RJ practices; concerns about practical and theoretical implications of using RJ practices on campuses; recognition of limited existing research; and recommendations/considerations for implementation. This review revealed significant gaps in existing evidence. Future research should examine the effectiveness, institutional uptake, and macro-structural context of RJ practices to address sexual harm on college campuses. PRACTICE IMPACT STATEMENT This synthesis of existing scholarship on restorative justice (RJ) suggests that RJ has the potential to minimise harm for all parties and to improve overall campus climates. Higher education institutions should be encouraged to expand their use of RJ practices and incorporate RJ into policies for responding to sexual harms on campus. Furthermore, institutions and funding agencies should prioritise opportunities to support implementation and evaluation of new RJ policies across diverse higher education settings.