Restorative Justice as an Antidote to Moral Disengagement: Results from a Restorative Circles Program for Domestic Violence

This study is part of an evaluation of a restorative circles program for domestic violence. We use quantitative and qualitative data from parties responsible for the violence and qualitative interviews with victim-survivors to examine the impact of restorative programming. Bandura’s theory of moral disengagement informed our collection of sociometric measures and semi-structured interviews. Results indicate that restorative justice processes may be an important antidote to moral disengagement. The quantitative data revealed significant changes in moral justification, externalization of blame, and distortion of harmful consequences, among other key measures indirectly related to moral disengagement, such as empathy and acceptance of violence. Victim-survivors derived benefits from the restorative program, but their perspectives were mixed regarding changes in their partners/ex-partners. We discuss the complexity of these findings and implications for domestic violence restorative justice programs.