Abstract
 
Restorative justice offers a re-imaging of justice outside of carceral punishments through bringing together victims, offenders and community members to address the transgression and develop systems of accountability and repair. Despite restorative justice’s intersectional roots, restorative justice scholarship often erases the contributions and experiences of Black women leading to gender-only analysis of sexual assault and domestic violence. This narrative then raises the questions: 1) what do Black feminist interpretations of restorative justice look like; 2) what might a Black feminist praxis offer for both the theory and application of restorative justice? This paper examines the gap between restorative justice scholarship and grassroots women of color led restorative justice practices in relationship to Black feminist theory. Through analyzing Creative Interventions, a restorative justice organization, I argue the group uses a Black feminist praxis to provide a holistic approach to gender-based violence by centering women of color to address gender-based violence. By starting and continuing to follow the work of women of color, restorative justice can better meet the needs of survivors by expanding beyond a gender-only analysis to an intersectional analysis; allowing the practice to better meet the needs of different groups of survivors.