Domestic Abuse and the Challenge of Human-Centered Justice

This lecture invites us to look beyond legal procedures and ask a deceptively simple question: what does justice feel like to the people living through it? In For Sarah There Is Only One Life: Domestic Abuse and the Challenge of Human-Centered Justice, Professor Richard W. Whitecross explores how domestic abuse exposes some of the most profound challenges facing modern justice systems. Through the story of "Sarah" and her son "Will", this lecture reveals the gap between institutional processes and lived experience, examining how criminal courts, family courts, social services and policymakers often see separate cases, while families experience a single, interconnected reality. Drawing on research into domestic abuse, children's rights, trauma-informed practice and family justice reform, the lecture asks provocative questions about power, legitimacy, participation and empathy. Are children truly heard? Do justice institutions understand risk? Can legal systems be designed around human experience rather than institutional convenience? Part personal journey, part public challenge, this lecture will offer a thought-provoking exploration of justice, vulnerability and a major social challenge. It is an invitation to rethink how we support families, protect women and children, and build institutions capable of seeing the people behind the process. Join us in the Lindsay Stewart Lecture Theatre at Craiglockhart Campus. Following the lecture, attendees are invited to join a networking reception.