Five years after the wave of sexual assault reports, survivors continue to advocate for a justice system that is more responsive to their needs. The National Institute of Public Health of Quebec estimates that only 5 to 6% of them file a complaint with the police, even if an increase in the number of denunciations relating to sexual offenses has been observed. One of the possible solutions advocated by some victims is restorative justice.
This is the option chosen by Mélanie Jacques, a victim of incest at the age of 10, to move forward in her healing process. Met on the edge of the river in Sorel-Tracy, Mélanie holds a photo of her and her stepfather, taken a few months before he sexually assaulted her. “The reason I kept this photo is because I didn’t want to forget the little girl in the photo. […] Why I’m strong […]it’s because of her, “said the one who recently completed a group restorative justice process.
Restorative justice is not a new idea. This approach to justice, which can be complementary to the current criminal justice system or an alternative to it, has its origins in traditional Aboriginal practices, according to the Canadian Department of Justice. The very first experience of Western restorative justice dates back to 1974, in Ontario, in a case where two drunk teenagers were accused of vandalism. They had been offered to meet their victims to offer them reparation. This case, now known as the Elmira case, has since caught on.
There are different types of restorative justice processes offered by several organizations. In a private or group format, this process allows a victim to sit down with their attacker, or a substitute attacker who has committed the same acts against another person, to ask them questions.
A formula that, according to Jo-Anne Wemmers, professor at the School of Criminology at the University of Montreal, allows survivors of sexual assault to be stakeholders in the process.
“That’s what’s interesting,” she says. Together, work, search, find an answer to reduce the victim’s suffering and repair the harm caused by the criminal act. Jo-Anne Wemmers explains that in the criminal justice system, the victim is only a witness in the eyes of the law. “They often feel excluded from the penal system. They feel like an object. »
The limits of an innovative solution
The restorative justice process, however, is not perfect. Survivors may primarily encounter men who have admitted criminal guilt, which is not always the case with their own abuser.
Mélanie Lemay, co-founder of Quebec against sexual violence, also explains that it is still rare to see a lawyer advising his client to meet his victim before the trial, and this, because of the presumption of innocence. “The attackers have everything to gain by denying or invalidating that the events did indeed occur. We are still in a society where, unfortunately, anything that might happen in terms of compensation for their victims could be held against them. »
Yet it is precisely this acknowledgment of facts and events that survivors of sexual assault most often seek. “When the abuser has admitted the facts, it’s much more satisfying for the victim. It’s validation, recognition [ce qu’on obtient rarement] in the criminal justice system,” says Jo-Anne Wemmers.
Free yourself from a huge burden
When Mélanie Jacques became the victim of her stepfather, she denounced him and the latter immediately pleaded guilty after his arrest. Although she tried to get in touch with him years later to understand what had prompted him to commit such acts, she was never able to speak to him.
It’s watching an episode of the TV series Unit 9 that she was put on the restorative justice trail. Mélanie then contacts the Center for Restorative Justice Services to speak with an abuser who has committed the same acts as her stepfather. “I do not accept the gestures he made, but he helped me a lot, this man,” she argues following her meetings with him. Above all, she was able to ask him the question that tormented her: why her?
When the abuser has admitted the facts, it is much more satisfying for the victim. It’s validation, recognition [ce qu’on obtient rarement] in the criminal justice system.
As part of her research, Professor Jo-Anne Wemmers was able to speak with several survivors of sexual assault who often discussed the notion of forgiveness. “It’s not about forgiving your abuser, it’s more about forgiving yourself. It’s part of your own healing process, to forgive the child, to forgive the naive victim. »
Giant steps
Martin [nom fictif. L’anonymat a été requis pour ne pas faire revivre des traumatismes à son ancienne belle-fille, sa victime], an offender, has participated in several restorative justice processes and was first introduced to this concept in prison. Although he had already understood, in medical terms, what had led him to make such gestures — he was told that he had entered a cognitive distortion — restorative justice enabled him to enter into contact with his emotions. “When I sit in front of a related victim, I don’t need to explain the reasons. She knows it. I don’t need to explain what kinds of gestures I made. She suffered them. She wants to understand the motivations, and me, that’s what allowed me to connect. »
He says he is now able to recognize the behaviors that could make him reoffend. “Everyone told me that I had made progress, but that there, I was advancing by leaps and bounds. I had just put my finger on what was blocking me, on what represented a risk for me, ”he summarizes.
A solution, not a panacea
Restorative justice requires preparation for both the victim and the offender, so that they are willing to tell their respective stories…and to hear them. “We have to talk about how the process unfolds so that people can know what is going to happen, what the rules of interaction are, so that it happens in a respectful way,” emphasizes Jo-Anne Wemmers.
But for that, it may be necessary to take a step further for a justice that wants to be “transformative”. “This is where politics, in my view, can still play an important role,” says Mélanie Lemay. It is by widening the spaces where it is possible to denounce, it is by taking an interest in the way in which a situation has arisen […] that it could in fact be beneficial to prevent the creation of other victims. »
Not every victim in their lifetime will want to sit with an abuser. “It has to be voluntary, first. And that is a very important principle for all participants, whether for victims or for offenders,” recalls Jo-Anne Wemmers. And the healing process of a victim can span a lifetime, underlines Mélanie Lemay. “In our body, we carry the crime scene,” she recalls. According to her, there is no single solution for this way of the cross.
With Jonathan Allard