Over the past 30 years, restorative justice has been an emerging concept that has become increasingly utilized throughout societies. Restorative justice based practices are primarily used during the aftermath of a criminal or deviant act, and serve to repair the harm done and restore those involved with the offense. In the United States, restorative justice has started to emerge as an alternative option for juveniles and lesser offenses (Roberts & Stalans, 2004). There is limited research on applying restorative justice practices to sex offenses. The goal of this thesis is to explore the relationship between professionals' perceptions of sex crimes and the applicability of restorative justice. A qualitative method was used with a sample of five participants: three community supervision officers who work with sex offenders and two victim advocates who work with victims of sex crimes. All were employed in a rural county in a southern state. Each participant engaged in a semi-structured interview which addressed 29 questions on the topic of sex offenses and restorative justice. Responses to the questions were transcribed and formulated the findings of this study. Overall, participants indicated that restorative justice would not be appropriate for sex offenses in the United States, but also indicated that restorative justice could have some positive aspects and that it may be more appropriate for other types of offenses. Further research on the applicability of restorative justice for sex offenses might include an increased sample size, and the voices of sex offenders and victims of sex offenses themselves.
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