Abstract
Victims of child pornography—or CSAM (child sexual abuse material) —have been described as having suffered harm “that is like ‘a thousand cuts.’” Enter restorative justice, tasked with healing. Over the past decade, the laws designed for the primary purpose of punishing CSAM offenders have adapted to better acknowledge the victims’ needs as well. This is a unique feat, since victims of those who traffic CSAM are different from victims of other kinds of offenses: for each given offense, the victim or victims might be plentiful, unidentifiable, distanced from their original victimization, or all of the above. Restorative justice practices, in some instances, may help identify, validate, and begin to repair the unavoidable harm. Beginning this research, I hypothesized that the presence of restorative justice practices in CSAM law risks revictimizing the subjects of sexual exploitation, with little reward. However, I learned that the victims’ involvement in the process is largely voluntary, and there are more rewards to a restorative process than initially meet the eye. …
Recommended Citation
Mimi Mays,
Restorative Creep: How Child Exploitation Law is Implementing Restorative Justice,
59
U. Rich. L. Rev.
115
(2025).
Available at:
https://scholarship.richmond.edu/lawreview/vol59/iss5/6
