Academic Director

Full Profile

Academic Work

My scholarship examines how legal systems – whether in family, criminal, or community contexts – affect the well-being, rights, and dignity of those who encounter them. While much of my work has focused on children’s rights, I have also explored broader themes such as victims’ rights, the functioning and impact of community courts, and the principles and practice of restorative justice. I strongly believe in interdisciplinary research and strive to combine legal analysis of human rights and legal rules with the development of empirical knowledge about human needs and subjective experiences.

Building on this foundation presented in my OUP book (Gal, 2011), I proposed a socio-ecological model of children’s rights (Gal, 2020). This framework situates children within their broader ecosystems of families, schools, communities, and legal structures, and highlights how these environments both enable and constrain participation. The ecological lens offers a way to identify barriers and facilitators in implementation, while also acknowledging the dual reality of children’s lives: their interdependence with others and their distinct status as individual rights-holders.

Selected references:

Books:

• Tali Gal, Child Victims and Restorative Justice: A Needs/Rights Model. Oxford University Press (2011).
• Tali Gal & Benedetta Faedi Duramy (Eds.), International Perspectives and Empirical findings on child Participation: From Social Exclusion to Child-Inclusive Policies. New York: Oxford University Press (2015).

Articles:

• Tali Gal, Child Victims and Child Perpetrators in Restorative Justice: A Needs-Rights Model, in Annemieke Wolthuis & Tim Chapman (Eds.), Restorative Justice from a Children’s Rights Perspective, pp. 83-97 (Eleven International Publishing, 2021).
• Sharon Bessell & Tali Gal, Forming Partnerships: The Human Rights of Children in Need of Care and Protection, 17 International Journal of Children’s Rights 283-298 (2009).  
• Tali Gal, Children’s Rights in Practice: The Participation of Children in Care and Protection Decisions, in Klaus Hoffmann-Holland (Ed.), Ethics and Human Rights in a Globalized World, pp. 323-336 (Mohr-Siebeck, Tübingen 2009).
• Tali Gal, Conclusion: From Social Exclusion to Child-Inclusive Policies: Toward an Ecological Model of Child Participation, in Tali Gal & Benedetta Faedi-Duramy (Eds.), International Perspectives and Empirical Findings on Child Participation: From Social Exclusion to Child-Inclusive Policies, pp. 451-463 (Oxford University Press, 2015). 
• Tali Gal, Family Group Conferences in Child Protection: A Communitarian Implementation of Children’s Participation Rights, in Ellen Marrus & Pamela Laufer-Ukeles (Eds.), Global Reflections on Children’s Rights and the Law: 30 Years After the Convention on the Rights of the Child, pp. 115-127 (Routledge, 2021).
• Tali Gal, An Ecological Model of Child and Youth Participation, 79 Children & Youth Services Review 57-64 (2017).
• Tali Gal, A Socio-Ecological Model of Children’s Rights. In Oxford Handbook on Children’s Rights Law, pp. 119–138 (2020).
• Tali Gal, “To Protect and to Include: Child Protection Family Group Conferences as a Communitarian Implementation of Children’s Right to Participation”, 9 Family in Law (Mishpaha Bemishpat), 1-24 (2023, Hebrew).

Restorative Justice

My interest in restorative justice stems from its potential to bring together individuals and groups with very different levels of social capital, experience, and capability, in ways that are respectful and meaningful. My research in this area spans both youth and adult contexts, often centering on the difficult balance between accountability, safety, and healing. In one study, I examined facilitators’ perspectives on using restorative processes in cases of online sexual harm among teenagers, highlighting both the opportunities for dialogue and repair as well as the significant challenges of implementation (Hadar, Shehman & Gal, 2024). In another project with colleagues (Avieli, Winterstein, & Gal, 2021), I explored attitudes toward the involvement of older adults in restorative justice, uncovering concerns that echoed those raised about children’s participation.

Selected references:

• Tali Gal & Vered Shidlo-Hezroni, Restorative Justice as Therapeutic Jurisprudence: The Case of Child Victims, in Edna Erez, Michael Kilchling, and Jo-Anne Wemmers (Eds.), Therapeutic Jurisprudence and Victim Participation in Justice: International Perspectives, pp. 139-167 (Carolina Academic Press, 2011).
• Tali Gal, Child Victims and Child Perpetrators in Restorative Justice: A Needs-Rights Model, in Annemieke Wolthuis & Tim Chapman (Eds.), Restorative Justice from a Children’s Rights Perspective, pp. 83-97 (Eleven International Publishing, 2021).
• Tali Gal & Shomron Moyal, Juvenile Victims in Restorative Justice: Findings from the Reintegrative Shaming Experiments, 51 British Journal of Criminology 1014-1034 (2011). .
• Hadar Dancig-Rosenberg & Tali Gal, Restorative Criminal Justice, 34 Cardozo Law Review 2313-2346 (2013).  
• Tali Gal, ‘The conflict is ours’: Community Involvement in Restorative Justice, 19 Contemporary Justice Review 289-306 (2016).   
• Tali Gal, Restorative Justice Myopia, 3 The International Journal of Restorative Justice 341-355 (2020). 
• Tali Gal, Setting Standards for Child-Inclusive Restorative Justice, 59 Family Court Review 144-160 (2021).
• Hila Avieli, Tova B. Winterstein, & Tali Gal, Challenges in Implementing Restorative Justice with Older Adults: Institutional Gatekeepers and Social Barriers, 51 (2021)
• Natali Hadar, Ronen Shehman, & Tali Gal, “When a Boy Hurts a Girl in Cyberspace: Facilitators’ Views on Potential Benefits and Challenges in Restorative Justice”, 51(9) Criminal Justice & Behavior, 1378-1396 (2024).
• Tali Gal, Hadar Dancig-Rosenberg, & Guy Enosh, Measuring the Restorativeness of Restorative Justice: The Case of the Mosaica Jerusalem Program, 1 International Journal of Restorative Justice 252-273 (2018).

Prof. Tali Gal with her PhD advisor, Prof. John Braithwaite (center) and long-time colleague & research partner, Prof. Hadar Dancig-Rosenberg.

Childhood victimization

A central strand of my work has focused on child victims of crime, pursued both through my own research and through the supervision of doctoral projects. Jonathan Piamenta’s dissertation, for example, brought forward the voices of children and adolescents who experienced sexual victimization, highlighting both their exclusion from criminal proceedings and the ways in which participation can foster recognition and recovery (Piamenta & Gal, 2024; 2025). This work underscores how the challenges faced by victims more broadly are often intensified in the case of children, making the protection of their rights and voices all the more urgent.

Selected references:

• Tali Gal, Child Victims and the Participation Right, in Tamar Morag (Ed.), Children's Rights and the Israeli Law. (Special Issue – Hamishpat; Ramot – Tel Aviv University), 267-298 (2010, Hebrew).
• Tali Gal Child victims in Israel a Decade after the Victims’ Rights Revolution: A Needs—Rights Examination, 36 Tel Aviv University Law Review (Iyuney Mishpat) 705-756. (2014, Hebrew).
• Tali Gal, Crime Victimization and Child Well-Being, in Asher Ben-Arieh, Ivar Frones, Ferran Casas, & Jill Korbin (Eds.), Handbook of Child Well-Being, pp. 2617-2652 (Springer Science Dordrecht, 2013).
• Jonathan Peamenta & Tali Gal, “Under the Therapeutic Jurisprudence Lens: An Analysis of the Criminal Justice Process through the Perspectives of Adolescent Victims of Sexual Abuse”, 32 Mifgash Journal of Social-Educational Work (57), 89-112 (2024, Hebrew).
• Jonathan Peamenta & Tali Gal, Children’s and Young People’s Experiences of Participation after Sexual Maltreatment. Child Abuse & Neglect, 162, 107078 (2025).

Selected references:

• Tali Gal & David B. Wexler, Synergizing Therapeutic Jurisprudence and Positive Criminology, in Natti Ronel & Dana Segev (Eds.), Positive Criminology, pp. 85-97 (Routledge, 2015).
• Tali Gal & Dahlia Schilli-Yerichover, Mainstreaming Therapeutic Jurisprudence in Family Law. Family Court Review, 55, 177–194 (2017).
• Tali Gal & Ruthy Lowenstein-Lazar, Sounds of Silence: Victim Impact Statements. Lewis & Clark Law Review, 27, 147–196 (2023).
• Lior Kovach & Tali Gal, “Between Law and Therapy: Implementation of Therapeutic Jurisprudence Principles in Juvenile Court Criminal Proceedings”, 34(2) Society and Welfare 193-215 (2024, Hebrew).
• Shira Leiterdorf-Shkedy & Tali Gal, The Sensitive Prosecutor: Emotional Experiences of Prosecutors in Criminal Proceedings, 63 International Journal of Law and Psychiatry 8-17 (2019).    

Forgiveness and Recovery

In recent years, I have joined international teams studying forgiveness as a coping and recovery mechanism for youth affected by sexual violence, armed conflict, or social division. One project, conducted with colleagues in Taiwan and Northern Ireland under the leadership of University of Wisconsin-Madison Professor Robert Enright, compared children’s experiences of forgiveness education in societies with deep intergroup tensions (Saban et al., 2024). Another, funded by the Israel Science Foundation, focuses on the role of forgiveness in the recovery of sexually assaulted youth (Gal & Piamenta, 2025).

Selected references:

• Tali Gal, ‘Sholem Sholem Le`olam’: Child Victims and Forgiveness in Restorative Justice Processes, in Aviva Z. Wisman & Zvi Eisikovits (Eds.), Forgiveness: Reflections and Concerns, Perusals on Forgiveness for Interpersonal Wrongs, pp. 217-240 (Ressling, 2015, Hebrew).
• Laiki Saban, Tali Gal et al., Forgiveness Education in Conflicted Societies. Education Sciences, 14(12), 1300 (2024).

Prof. Tali Gal with her research team on “Education for Forgiveness”

Specialized Courts and Multi-Door Justice

Alongside my work on children’s rights and victimization, I have been interested in how specialized courts and alternative justice pathways can address the limitations of traditional criminal processes and provide more therapeutic legal reactions to crime. Much of this research has focused on community courts, which aim to respond to the social and personal circumstances underlying criminal behavior. Together with colleagues, I have conducted empirical evaluations of the Israeli community courts, examining their impact on defendants, victims, professionals, and communities. These studies suggest that while community courts cannot solve all systemic problems, they open important spaces for rehabilitation, accountability, and collaboration.

I have also studied deferred prosecution and other diversionary practices, asking whether they genuinely reduce criminalization or, in some cases, inadvertently extend social control. More broadly, I have explored, together with my career-long co-author Prof. Hadar Dancig-Rosenberg, the concept of multi-door criminal justice – the idea that a range of forums and processes can coexist within the legal system, each suited to particular kinds of disputes and participants.

Across these projects, my aim has been to capture both the promise and the complexity of specialized justice mechanisms, and to provide evidence that can inform ongoing debates on reform. At the theoretical level, I am interested in the purposes of criminal law, and in questioning whether traditional distinctions between well-being and recidivism, or between retribution and reconciliation, adequately reflect contemporary realities and human needs.

Selected references:

• Hadar Dancig-Rosenberg & Tali Gal, Guest Editors’ Introduction: Multi-Door Criminal Justice. New Criminal Law Review, 22(4), 347–358 (2019).
• Tali Gal & Hadar Dancig-Rosenberg, Characterizing Multi-Door Criminal Justice: A Comparative Analysis of Three Criminal Justice Mechanisms. New Criminal Law Review, 23(1), 139–166 (2020).
• Tali Gal & Hadar Dancig-Rosenberg, Evaluating the Israeli Community Courts: Key Issues, Challenges, and Lessons. International Annals of Criminology, 62, 104–140 (2024).
• Tali Gal & Hadar Dancig-Rosenberg, “I Am Starting to Believe in the Word ‘Justice’: Lessons from an Ethnographic Study on Community Courts.” American Journal of Comparative Law, 68, 376–411 (2020).
• Tali Gal, Shay Tzafrir, & Laliv Egozi, Diversion or Net-Widening? A Formative Study on the Prosecution Diversion Pilot Program in Israel. In E. Elisha, A. Zelig & U. Timor (Eds.), Pathways for Redemption, Resling Publishing (2022).

Mentoring

I have supervised more than 15 master’s theses, 10 doctoral dissertations, and a similar number of post-doctoral fellows, many of whom are now research fellows at the Child and Youth Rights Program. Their projects span a wide range of topics: from restorative justice in sexual assault cases (Dr. Natalie Hadar) to the role of emotions among legal professionals (Dr. Shira Leitersdorf Shkedi); from traditional Arab conflict resolution practices (Amani Sawaed Yunis) to Haredi youth participation in health care decision-making (Dr. Haya Gershuni). Recently, post-doctoral researcher Dr. Heba Zedan published the first paper from her study on sociopolitical stress and coping strategies among Palestinian adolescents in East Jerusalem.

Several of my graduate and doctoral students have contributed to the study of community courts while pursuing their own distinct lines of inquiry. For example, Naama Goldstein-Meshulam examined the experiences of wives of defendants, revealing how family members’ lives are shaped by the court process; Tal Cohen-Tabib explored the perspectives of female defendants and the effects of the program on their relationships with family members; and Yarin Segev analyzed the role of prosecutors in community courts.

I see one of my central academic responsibilities as fostering communities of young researchers who not only expand knowledge in their fields but also provide mutual support and collegiality. My supervision involves close one-on-one work on individual projects, alongside group discussions that encourage interdisciplinary dialogue and offer a broader orientation into academic life.

Selected references:

• Natalie Hadar & Tali Gal, Survivors’ Paths toward Forgiveness in Restorative Justice Following Sexual Violence”, 50(6) Criminal Justice & Behavior 911-928 (2023)
• Shira Leiterdorf-Shkedy & Tali Gal, The Sensitive Prosecutor: Emotional Experiences of Prosecutors in Criminal Proceedings, 63 International Journal of Law and Psychiatry 8-17 (2019).    
• Heba Zedan & Tali Gal, “Co-Researching with Palestinian Children and Youth: Rights-Based Knowledge Creation During Wartime”, forthcoming in International Journal of Qualitative Methods (2025).

              Prof. Tali Gal with her own Master’s advisor, Prof. Herman Schwartz (center) and colleague, jurist and civil rights advocate, Attorney Dan Yakir (right).