Re-offending After Victim-offender Mediation in Juvenile Court Proceedings

Source: (2003) In, Elmar Weitekamp and Hans-Jurgen Kerner, eds. Restorative Justice in Context: International Practice and Directions.Devon, UK and Portland Oregon: Willan Publishing. Pp.208-228.

The VOM cases were analyzed as a complete census; every mediation case falling into the period of time being investigated was analyzed. The extent of data collection for the sample was determined by statistical considerations. For Munich, inquiries to the Federal Penal Registration Office have been made for 209 VOM and for 575 control cases; for Landshut, for 145 VOM and for 89 control cases. Those cases were regarded as successful in this study where mediation led to an agreement between offenders and victims. There were hardly any differences in offense between the VOM cases and those of the control group. There were significant differences in family circumstances and the number of times there was an official diversion or conviction among the VOM group and the control group. The VOM group did not comprise adolescent defendants, and the findings of this study refer to young defendants 18- to 21-years-old. The results revealed a favorable influence of VOM on re-offending. With the successful mediation cases, the average number of re-offendings was 1.36, as opposed to 2.06 with the control sample. This relation was also confirmed by a partial correlation where the influence of control variables was eliminated. With a partial correlation coefficient of 0.14, this correlation was not very strong; however, it was significant. The extent of the favorable effect of VOM on re-offending was not fully quantifiable in this study. Fears that the preventive effect of criminal law could be weakened by VOM are not supported by these results. Abstract courtesy of National Criminal Justice Reference Service, www.ncjrs.org.