Evaluative studies have demonstrated that victims of crime are satisfied with their participation in a restorative intervention. Meanwhile, the explanation of victim satisfaction with restorative practices remains to be established. In this article, we study factors contributing to victim satisfaction with the restorative approach and ask to what extent victim satisfaction is simply due to procedural justice. Procedural justice theory predicts that the perceived fairness of a conflict resolution procedure is not only explained by the favourability of its outcome, but also by the appreciation of procedural factors, such as trust, neutrality, respect and voice, and that procedures can be assessed irrespective of their outcome. We conducted semi-directive interviews with 34 victims of violent crime who participated in victimÀoffender mediation, family group conferencing or victimÀoffender encounters in Canada and Belgium. We found that appreciation of a restorative approach is related to it being perceived as procedurally just. However, it is also related to other factors, namely the restorative approach being flexible, providing care, centring on dialogue and permitting pro-social motives to be addressed. These factors are not accounted for by the procedural justice model. Therefore, procedural justice partially but not entirely explains victim satisfaction with restorative practices.

Multiple studies have demonstrated that adolescent dating violence is highly prevalent and associated with internalizing and externalizing problems. A number of prevention initiatives are being implemented in North-American high schools. Such initiatives do not only aim to raise awareness among potential victims and offenders but also among peer bystanders. Since teenagers mainly reach out to their peers when experiencing adversity, it is important to address adolescents' efficiency to deal with witnessing dating violence or with friends disclosing dating abuse, in addition to increasing ability to deal with experienced dating violence victimization or perpetration. The aim of this study is to explore adolescents' self-efficacy to deal with dating violence victimization and perpetration in their relationships and those of their peers. A paper-andpencil questionnaire was completed by 259 14-18 years olds in Quebec, Canada. The data allows building insight into adolescents' confidence to reach out for help or to help others in a situation of dating violence victimization and perpetration. We also considered the impact of gender and dating victimization history. Results suggest that dating violence prevention can build on teens' self-efficacy to deal with dating violence and offer them tools to do so efficiently. KeywordsSelf-efficacy; adolescents; dating violence; bystander; help-seeking The issue of intimate partner violence has received considerable and much deserved attention over the past decades. Most of these studies address perpetrated or endured violence among young adults in the context of intimate relationships or dating. Recently the focus has shifted to adolescents as victims or perpetrators of dating violence (DV). Henton et al. (1983) first described the co-occurrence of romance and violence in early dating relationships. Adolescent DV is a significant issue due to its high incidence and potential serious consequences, such as internalizing and externalizing problems and an increased risk for revictimization (Antle et al., 2011;Hébert et al., 2012 A number of reports suggest that there are no significant differences in prevalence between boys and girls regarding physical and emotional DV victimization (Bélanger et al., 2010;Tucker Halpern et al., 2001). Although both male and female high school students report experiences of forced sexual activity in heterosexual relationships (Geiger et al., 2008;Poitras and Lavoie, 1995), girls are more likely to do so. Eaton et al. (2010) found that in a representative nationwide sample of American youth, 10% of the girls and 4% of the boys report having been physically forced to have sexual intercourse. Very few studies offer information as to possible motives for DV. Some studies found gender-related differences in motives (girls using DV out of self-defense and boys out of anger or to control) (Barter, 2009), while in other studies the empirical findings were inconclusive (Foshee et al., 2007;O'Keefe, 1997).Such incidence rates underline the need for ef...

Restorative justice (RJ) promotes a constructive dialogue between the victim of a crime and the offender. Restorative practices have been credited for allowing victims to move on from victimization. This paper goes beyond victim appreciation of RJ and addresses what motivates victims to agree to communicate with their offender. Victim-participants were interviewed at the start of a restorative intervention and again after its conclusion, with the aim of identifying reasons for participation and exploring whether these evolve as a restorative procedure progresses. Discourses reveal that victims hoped that interaction with their adult or young offender would advance insight and healing as well as help the offender. Shifts in motivation over time were only subtle and many respondents manifested prosocial intentions (for example to help the offender) early on.

Independent studies reveal that when done properly, restorative justice (RJ) practices outperform criminal justice proceedings in meeting victims’ concerns for insight, voice, and fairness and, as a result, can have therapeutic value. However, only a small number of cases are referred to RJ, and victim-initiated RJ remains exceptional. Not every victim is interested in RJ, but many victims are unaware of it and hence miss out on its potential benefits. Introducing RJ to victims of crime should be done responsibly, and, therefore, it is important to understand whether and how victims want to be informed about RJ. We interviewed 34 victims of serious crime in Belgium and Canada and asked them what they had thought about being invited to participate in RJ. We categorized their experiences into what we labelled a “protective” and a “proactive” approach. A protective approach is characterized by an individualized offer and lack of systematic information about RJ, while a proactive approach favours a systematic offer and informed choice. Our findings indicate that victims of violent crime prefer to be proactively informed about their restorative options as long as the offer respects certain conditions. These include a guarantee of voluntary participation and RJ that is a complementary approach to criminal justice proceedings.

Dating violence (DV) is now recognized as an important public health issue. Prevention and intervention programs are being implemented in school contexts. Such initiatives aim to raise awareness among potential victims and offenders as well as among peer bystanders and offer adequate interventions following disclosure. Yet, a major challenge remains as teenagers may not disclose their victimization or may not feel self-efficient to deal with DV if they witness such violence. As such, teen DV remains largely hidden. A representative sample of 8 194 students (age 14-18) in the province of Quebec, Canada was used to explore teenagers' self-efficacy to reach out for help or to help others in a situation of DV victimization and perpetration. Analyses are conducted to identify possible correlates of self-efficacy in terms of socio-demographic variable (sex, age) and a history of child sexual abuse and dating victimization. Implications for prevention and support strategies are discussed.