Participation in Victim-Offender Mediation and Reoffense: Successful Replications?

Source: (2001) Research on Social Work Practice 11(1).

A study was conducted to determine the extent to which four investigations of the effect of participation in victim-offender mediation (VOM) on reoffense were successful replications. Method: The data from these four studies were combined and statistical analyses performed to determine if differences between studies were attributable to sampling variability. If the differences between studies were statistically nonsignificant, the results would be consistent with the four studies being successful replications of each other. Results: The results were consistent with the four studies representing a successful replication series. Analyses of the combined samples of 1,298 juveniles indicated that VOM participants reoffended at a rate 32% lower than nonparticipants. Conclusion: The difference in reoffense rates was more than three times larger than the average effect associated with interventions for delinquency found in a recent meta-analysis. These results suggested that VOM participation was associated with significant reductions in delinquent behavior.