Restorative Justice as a Tool to Address Violence Against Women? An Assessment of the Italian Case in Light of the Practice of International Monitoring Bodies

This article examines the use of restorative justice (RJ) as an alternative to traditional retributive justice in addressing violence against women (VAW) in the Italian legal system. Amidst a broad crisis of retributive justice characterised by its abstract conceptualisation of retribution, restorative justice offers a personalised approach to repairing the harm between victim and offender. However, the implementation of RJ in VAW cases poses sig- nificant risks, including secondary victimisation, exposure to physical and psychological harm, and potential manipulation by offenders seeking to exploit RJ processes. This debate has been particularly pronounced in Italy following the adoption of the “Cartabia reform”, and previous legislation on mediation in family law. Against this background, the first part of the article analyses how international bodies such as the CEDAW Committee and GREVIO have assessed Italy’s international obligations under CEDAW and the Istanbul Convention in relation to alternative dispute resolution mechanisms. After providing an overview of VAW in Italy and the country’s interactions with international monitoring bodies, the article discusses the concept of RJ in the context of VAW, followed by a com- parative analysis of GREVIO’s interpretation of the concept of “mandatory mediation”. The second part of the article focuses on Italian alternative dispute resolution methods and the “Cartabia reform”. The authors argue that, while RJ measures may be beneficial in some contexts, in the specific case of VAW they could worsen the situation if not properly managed. In particular, mandatory RJ could mislead society into seeing women as mere participants in solving the problem thus ignoring their victimhood and leading to their secondary victimisation. Rather, response to VAW in Italy should include risk analysis, funding for anti-violence centres, appropriate training for the judiciary and police, and educational policies to challenge gender stereotypes and foster cultural change.