Source: (2013) In, David J. Cornwell, John Blad, and Martin Wright, eds., Civilising criminal justice: An international restorative justice agenda for penal reform. pp. 115-150.409-428.
On a continuum of possible stages for facilitating conflict resolution, victim-offender-mediation is not the only or ideal way, but on a continuum of possible steps for the treatment of conflicts it only represents one possible application. A community justice centre where criminal conflicts as well as civil disputes (e.g. family, neighborhood, and consumer conflicts) can be dealt with would be in keeping with the fact that there is no such thing as crime per se but rather that behaviour from a certain point on a continuum is defined as criminal. VOM represents an alternative way of thinking; it serves less to augment criminal justice decision-making programmes, and is more in keeping with the principles of autonomous conflict resolution, fairness and justice. (excerpt)
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