Campus Sexual Violence and Title IX: What is the Role of Restorative Justice Now?

• Author: Melanie D. Hetzel-Riggin,Shauntey James
• Published date: 01 July 2022
• Date: 01 July 2022
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/15570851211062643
• Subject Matter: Articles

Article

Feminist Criminology

2022, Vol. 17(3) 407–420

© The Author(s) 2021

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DOI: 10.1177/15570851211062643

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Campus Sexual Violence and

Title IX: What is the Role of

Restorative Justice Now?

Shauntey James

1

and Melanie D. Hetzel-Riggin

2

Abstract

Institutions of Higher Education (IHEs) have used restorative justice (RJ) to address

sexual misconduct on college campuses under Title IX. In 2020, Title IX guidance was

codif‌ied. The application of RJ under the new policy may create procedural and

distributive justice issues. This article (1) def‌ines the new policy; (2) explores suitability

of RJ to sexual misconduct and specif‌ically yellow zone behavior under the new policy;

(3) discusses justice for the various stakeholders under the guise of advantages and

disadvantages; and (4) makes recommendations to strengthen the choice of either

implementing or not implementing restorative justice.

Keywords

restorative justice, sexual misconduct, yellow zone behavior, higher education, Title IX

In comparison to other crimes on a college campus, sexual violence is pervasive with

one in f‌ive women reporting sexual violence (Cantor et al., 2020;Fedina et al., 2018;

Fisher et al., 2000;RAINN, n.d.;Ullman, 2020). A sexual violence incident on a

college campus may dictate a police response, but inappropriate campus behavior is

also regulated by campus policy (Clery Act, Violence Against Women Act (VAWA),

Dear Colleague Letter (DCL), and Campus SaVE Act).

1

School of Public Affairs, The Pennsylvania State University Harrisburg, Harrisburg, PA, USA

2

School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Arizona State University, Phoenix, AZ, USA

Corresponding Author:

Shauntey James, School of Public Affairs, 777 West Harrisburg Pike, Harrisburg, PA 17057, USA.

Email: sxj533@psu.edu