Making Sense of North American and South African Differences in the Practice of Restorative Justice.

Source: (2007) Justice Connections: a joint publication of NAFCM, PRASI and VOMA. 4(Spring):1, 14-16

These convictions are usually expressed independently, in response to different issues. It is easy to accept each on its own merits, seeing them as separate criteria to be met in separate ways. At least, it was easy for one of us (Susan) to do that—considering each of them a fundamental requirement
of “best practice” without ever considering them both at once. That changed when the two of us began talking about victim-offender mediation (VOM) in cases of violent or otherwise traumatic crime. (Authors’ note: In this article, the terms VOM, mediator, and mediation refer exclusively to such serious cases.) (excerpt)