NCJ Number
165893
Date Published
1996
Length
18 pages
Annotation
This study reviews findings regarding the process and benefits of victim-offender mediation and family group conferencing as manifestations of restorative justice interventions.
Abstract
The first portion of the study examines what has been learned about victim-offender mediation for property crimes and minor assaults. Information addresses program characteristics, case referral, immediate outcomes of mediation, victim participation, offender participation, voluntary participation in mediation, client satisfaction, and the most important mediator tasks. Other findings focus on the successful completion of restitution agreements, the reduction of victim fear and anxiety, recidivism, and a cross-national comparison on key outcomes. The second section of the study provides information on what has been learned about victim-offender mediation for crimes of severe violence. The number of studies of such programs is small, but these indicate significant offender and victim support for such mediation. Similar to victim-offender mediation, the process of family group conferencing involves a face-to-face meeting between the victim and offender. The conferencing mode, however, draws upon traditional Maori values in Australia and New Zealand by inviting a much larger group of family members and key support people for both victim and offender. Information on family group conferencing addresses immediate outcomes, victim participation, offender participation, family participation, and client satisfaction. The study concludes that the 20-year history of victim-offender mediation and the newer experience of family group conferencing give effect to the emerging practice theory of restorative justice, even though these two interventions do not fully address the larger systemic change implied by restorative justice as a fundamentally different paradigm. Far more experimentation is needed as the restorative justice movement matures. 8 tables