Peté, Stephen.Nkwatle (Nee Mahila), Kamogelo Innocentia2025-07-242025-07-2420252025https://hdl.handle.net/10413/23861Masters Degree. University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg.The subject of restorative justice has been one of the driving forces behind the transformation and development of the South African criminal justice system following the apartheid era. The Constitution of the Republic prioritises and gives recognition to the needs and rights of all citizens of South Africa (hereinafter ‘RSA’), including victims of crime. Our legislature has taken significant steps in developing our law to include restorative justice principles and programs which promote the participation of victims in the criminal justice process, through the department of Correctional Services and department of Justice & Constitutional Development. South African case law requires that the interests of society should be considered from the commencement of criminal proceedings (when bail is considered) right up until the conclusion (sentencing) thereof. This is to ensure that the court always bears in mind throughout the proceedings that injustice has not only been committed against the State but also against the actual victim of crime whose rights have been infringed by the crime. The act of unlawfully and intentionally assaulting another, in cases where direct force is involved, continues to be a growing and ever prevalent offence within our country as evidenced by our crime statistics. South African citizens have the constitutional rights to personal dignity and to bodily integrity and to not be subjected to live in fear especially in their homes. The main focus of this dissertation is to determine the manner in which the principles of restorative justice may be able to play a role in crimes of violence between intimate partners, such violence is commonly referred to as ‘gender-based violence.enRestorative Justice.Violence.Intimate Partners.South Africa.Application.Thesis