Source: (1992) In: H. Messmer and H.-U. Otto (eds.), Restorative Justice on Trial: Pitfalls and Potentials of Victim-Offender Mediation: International Research Perspectives. Dordrecht, NETH: Kluwer Academic Publishers, pp. 419-430.
One of the first mediation experiments in Western Europe was started in 1983 in Vantaa, in Southern Finland. It was intended as an alternative to the official system but accepted public funds and attempted to work together with the local justice and other personnel When the programme became more established, the shift from the alternative perspective to one supplementing the official system started to be evident. In this paper some aspects of this shift are examined and especially through the eyes of the voluntary mediators. There are lessons to be learned about attempting to be ideologically “pure” and at the same time collaborating with the official system. Some of these issues also form one focus of this article.
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