Essay On Victim Offender Mediation

Victim-offender mediation and restitution or restorative justice is a form of conflict resolution, whereas, mediation and restitution is implemented if the crime is a petty crime. This form of conflict resolution is often used instead of the court system, to help both party’s fix the issue, and/or crime. There is must research and case studies done on the subject and often show greater beneficial results then punishment in the criminal justice system. In the article on the subject of victim’s needs and empowerment by Jung Jin Choi they refer to the stigma of punishment for offenders. The state takes the place of the victim and pursues judicial proceedings, to find guilt and impart fines and/or incarceration. Some of these lesser crimes can be resolved by mediation between the victim and the offender. This offender restitution is often referred to as restorative justice. Restorative justice, in contrast, considers victims as human beings by recognizing the centrality of the interpersonal dimension, rather than just seeing them as objects. While the victim is seen as a person who was most directly harmed by the offense, the offender and the community is also seen as affected parties in this perspective, the relationships among people are important as crime is viewed as a violation of people and relationships. Therefore, healing and possible reconciliation begin by involving the victim, the offender, and the community in searching for solutions collaboratively the offender 's primary responsibility is to 'make things right ' not only by providing reparation but also by repairing relationships. To right wrongs argued that victims need to be vindicated through an apology, which the offender owes to the victim (Choi, 2010). The victim’s needs are a very important aspect of conflict management, because it affects the victim through loss of a basic need of physical nurturance. This need is a physical need for protection and security. When someone is victimize they feel violated, but through mediation with the offender they have a way to help heal with closure on the incident. Also this gives the offender a way to fulfill a basic need for integrity. The offender can apologize, and take responsibility for their actions. This mediation, through a third party mediator, can open up a very healthy dialogue for each parties affected. The article on the subject of participation of victims in mediation with their offenders by Patrick M. Gerkin, speaks about the goals and outcomes of restorative justice through mediation. The goal of this research is to extend the knowledge about victim–offender mediation as a restorative process. The restorative nature of the intended mediation outcomes such as meeting needs, empowering victims and offenders, recognition, and reintegration. These are the outcomes that make justice restorative (Gerkin, 2009). The mediator in this study would ask non-judgmental questions to the victim such as, what can be done to make this right or what they would like to see accomplished today. In mediation using this language can help the victim voice their opinion and come to their own conclusions as to what can help them obtain closure. The mediator also uses non-judgmental language, but non-abusive language as well. The often ask …show more content…
The victim must explain the effects of the loss and what reparations can be made to fix the victimization and compensation for the loss that occurred. The offender must also explain their motivations behind there crime and offer the proper compensation to satisfy the victim. A scenario where these aspects of restorative justice would be fully understood would be; a young boy steals an elderly man’s dog, breaking his fence in the process. If mediation was applied then the elderly man might express that his dog was all he had and the loss devastated him, also he does not have good health to repair his fence. The victim would have stated his emotion state from the loss and that there needs to be compensation for the fence. The offender should start with an apology sometime just the words I’m sorry can help facilitate openness in the victim. The young boy might explain his motivations with being a trouble youth. Perhaps his dog passed away, and his parents are divorcing and the dog was all he